


The Potter Family Magic

by BuffaloBuddy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Betrayal, Family Secrets, Ginny Weasley Bashing, Hermione Granger Bashing, Magic Revealed, Molly Weasley Bashing, Ron Weasley Bashing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 32,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25901494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuffaloBuddy/pseuds/BuffaloBuddy
Summary: Harry the human lie detector has lost just about every fuck he could give for the wizarding world and those in it. Sick of the lies and betrayals, follow along as he discovers the history of his family and finds a place he can truly call home.Starts off just after the end of Harry's third year.
Comments: 164
Kudos: 1199
Collections: Favorite Rereads, Not to be misplaced, Waiting for updates





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was the very first HP fanfic I ever wrote (or started) and I've recently gone back, edited and begun continuing the story. I'm not sure where everything might end up but some possibilities include a sane Voldemort, getting out of the Triwizard Tournament, and/or some slash romance.
> 
> Rating and tags will change as the story does.
> 
> For the details, I used the Harry Potter Lexicon website’s Day-to-Day Calendars for tracking dates and events, as well as J.K. Rowling’s own description of the Potter family on the Wizarding World website. Though, there were some points where I changed details or canon facts to fit my story better.
> 
> As always, J.K. Rowling owns everything - I'm only in it for funsies and bragging rights.
> 
> Feel free to take any of my plotlines and put your own spin on things, just tag me, I'd love to read them.

Harry was confused and concerned. Was he going crazy? Was the stress of third year, being separated from his _innocent_ godfather and being sent back to the Dursleys becoming too much? After all, how else could he possibly explain this conviction that he’d somehow become a human lie detector?

It all started last week sometime, just after the big incident with Sirius and Professor Lupin and that rat Peter, or maybe it started before? It was hard to tell when exactly he’d heard the ringing first. It would start and stop almost randomly, always when people were talking. Bloody hard to ignore in the middle of a conversation. It even popped up during the leaving feast and that was horrible. A cacophony of ringing in his head like discordant church bells, so horrible he ended up complaining to Hermione before she started fussing over him about concussions and seeing Madam Pomfrey. He eventually convinced her it was just a simple headache because at that point he knew it was something, just not what and Pomfrey would just tut at him and demand he stay for observation like every other time he’d seen her. He almost wished he had more to complain about or more information period so he could consult Hermione, she always had an answer even if that answer was that she needed to research. But it was so irregular, he couldn’t figure out any sort of pattern, rhyme or reason. Maybe it really was some sort of headache and he needed to take better care of himself.

It wasn’t until the next morning when he and Ron were sitting in the common room waiting for Hermione to come down for breakfast, that he had his first inkling that the ringing might actually mean something.

Hermione had just entered the common room when she was abruptly pulled to the side by Ginny who had been waiting by the stairs. Ginny was whispering frantic words about getting her hair and makeup just right as always but Hermione’s response had Harry perking up.

“You look fine, Ginny _Ding._ You don’t even need the makeup, you’re a beautiful girl. Now come on, let’s get to breakfast. Ron’s practically vibrating he’s so impatient.”

It was a common phrase, a simple reassurance but decidedly false. Hermione had been complaining all semester that Ginny was getting too wrapped up in the makeup craze going around the dorm. She always caked too much on trying to look mature. She did NOT look ‘fine’. Harry had no idea how much makeup was acceptable but even he admitted that Ginny must be wearing too much when you could barely make out her eyes and she had apple red cheeks. Hermione had apparently been trying to convince her that ‘less-is-more’ (unsuccessfully so far) without actually telling her that she looked awful.

The whole interaction took barely a moment but Harry couldn’t get it out of his mind during breakfast and catching the carriages to the train.

Focusing more on what his classmates were actually saying when the ringing happened was hard, but he was getting the hang of it and there really was a pattern.

“Of course I’ll write.” _Ding_

“Sorry, haven’t seen it _._ ” _Ding_

“I swear I’m gonna study every day this summer.” _Ding_

“Excuse me, could you help with my trunk. Its too heavy and I don’t know the charm.” _Ding_

They were all lies. Some were little white lies to be polite, some a little darker, some he never would have guessed if not for the ringing. But how reliable was it really? He was hearing the ringing more often today, for sure, but were they all lies? Was the ringing only during lies? How did this happen? Needless to say, Harry was quite distracted during the train ride.

Now they were finally coming up on King’s Cross and Hermione had to remind him to remove his robes.

Thanking her, Harry stood and shakily shoved them into his trunk above their heads. Exposing his tattered, three times too large hand-me-downs always had this effect. He hated how ashamed they made him feel. He could already feel his posture curling in defensively even though he knew Hermione and Ron wouldn’t actually tease him about it. It was probably for the best anyway. Uncle Vernon seemed to prefer him this way. Smacking him upside the head or shouting until he looked properly cowed. Better to get into character now before accidentally setting him off.

They all disembarked at the station and Harry was promptly dragged into Hermione’s goodbye hug. He could see her parents standing off to the side next to the Weasleys. Percy standing next to Mr. Weasley trying to distract him from questioning Mr. Granger about extension cords and Mrs. Weasley already berating the twins for who knows what.

“Now Harry, I hope you have a good summer _Ding._ And don’t forget to do your summer homework.”

_Wait, what?_

Ron nodded along, smacking Harry’s shoulder. “Yeah, mate. We know how awful those relatives of yours are. Write if you need anything, we can always sneak you back to the Burrow _Ding._ ”

_What?_

But the crowd was jostling them, the Weasleys and Grangers were waiting and god forbid if Uncle Vernon was waiting in the parking lot. Ron and Hermione seemed to accept his mumbled “Sure, have a good summer” before waving goodbye.

Thankfully, Uncle Vernon was not waiting and in fact made Harry wait another hour on the scorching blacktop before picking him up. But now he had more questions buzzing around his head because there was no way the ringing was for lies. That made no sense. He’d heard Hermione say that same phrase all day to other students, even Ron why did it ding for him? Did she not want him to have a good summer? No way. And why did it ding when Ron mentioned the Burrow? No, he’s just tired, stressed from the whole fiasco with his godfather. The ringing didn’t mean anything.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry woke groggily, groaning and rolling to his feet, he quickly checked the clock with the cracked face propped up on his desk. It was 5:37. A little later than he’d prefer if he wanted to get Uncle Vernon’s breakfast ready for when he came downstairs at 6:15 but not a surprise. He’d been unable to sleep well last night, or the nights prior for that matter.

It’d been a month since he’d arrived back at the Dursleys and he still didn’t want to admit that he was harboring doubts about his friends, but he kept hearing the bell and it was becoming increasingly obvious that it rang whenever he heard a lie, and _didn’t_ ring when he was hearing the truth – and questions interestingly. It never went off during questions.

_But then again, a question can’t actually be a lie or the truth. Its just a question._

Hermione would be so proud of how philosophical he was being. But there he went again down a spiral of confusion. What did she mean? Why did she lie? Did she actually lie? How could he trust this strange ringing in his head over his own best friends? He should’ve mentioned it to them before parting. Maybe it wasn’t too late, maybe he could-

A tapping at the window startled Harry out of his thoughts. Walking quickly to the owl waiting on the window ledge, Harry rushed to let it in, removing a formal piece of parchment from its leg as it hooted impatiently. It quickly flew away, so no need for a quick reply he guessed. A glance at the clock had him shoving the message under his pillow and rushing downstairs, to be forgotten until later. Uncle Vernon might decide to bring out the belt if he didn’t have breakfast ready on time.

~

Utterly exhausted, Harry dragged himself upstairs after preparing dinner. Aunt Petunia had him working non-stop since the morning and he could barely feel his arms after so much scrubbing.

_She must pile up the chores until I get back, that’s the only reason she would let so many things go. When was the last time she even cleaned the tub? I bet she didn’t even touch it since I was here last summer. Those fucking water stains!_

Hedwig hooted a greeting quietly from her post as he walked into his room. She knew to be quiet at the Dursleys and Harry was so thankful for her presence and intelligence. At least he hadn’t heard the ringing all day. Commands like ‘weed the garden’, ‘hurry up’, or ‘scrub the toilet’ apparently also don’t qualify as true or false.

Sagging listlessly onto the bed, the crinkling under his pillow made Harry groan as he remembered the letter he’d gotten that morning. He just wanted to rest. But it could be important. He doubted it was from Ron with such fancy paper, but maybe the school? Maybe Dumbledore was taking what he said about the Dursley’s seriously and had reconsidered letting him stay at Hogwarts.

So, he dragged himself upright again and brought the letter to his desk where a bit of light was shining in from the streetlamp. It was nice not to have bars on his window this summer, they always made him think of a prison cell. A sentiment probably shared by the neighbors and hence their removal.

He didn’t recognize the seal on the scroll, but it seemed very official. Breaking the wax, he unrolled the small piece of parchment and began to read.

**Dear Mr. Harrison James Potter,**

**Your presence is requested at Gringotts as soon as possible. There is an urgent Potter family matter that needs your attention in person. Please request to speak with Account Manager Bloodclaw when you arrive, and you will be led to my office.**

**Sincerely,**

**Senior Acct. Manager Iphor Bloodclaw**

**Of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Diagon Alley Branch**

_Well that’s odd. ‘Potter family matter’? Couldn’t he give me more than that? It sounds so ominous. But how the hell am I supposed to get to Gringotts? Dumbledore explicitly said to stay with the Dursleys._

Harry heaved another sigh.

_He always says to stay here. “Your safe with your aunt and uncle my boy” “I’m sure its not so bad. They love you even if they’re a little strict” “The blood wards will protect you” Protect me, my ass! I haven’t eaten in over 24 hours and that was sneaking scraps behind Aunt Petunia’s back. What exactly are the blood wards supposed to be protecting me from anyway? Old Voldie’s probably still wandering the countryside as a spirit, it took him nearly a decade to find a host last time. And everyone keeps telling me that Hogwarts is supposed to be ‘the safest place in England’, why can’t I stay there? Its not like I take up that much space. Stick me in a room all summer, I don’t care. Anything would be better than this life as a house elf. In fact, I’m pretty sure that as scary as Mr. Malfoy is, he probably feeds his house elves at least once a day._

He wanted to go to Gringotts. Whatever it was the Goblins needed him for, he didn’t really care. It was an excellent opportunity to get away from the Dursleys for a day.

How to do it though?

He could probably use the Knight Bus like last summer. He had a few sickles and knuts stashed away under the floorboards with his wand, the map and his cloak. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would throw a fit though if he disappeared for the day.

Harry lay back on his bed, curling and uncurling the missive thoughtfully. Could he pretend to be sick and stay in his room? _No, I remember the last time I was sick. Aunt Petunia still made me work while running a fever and coughing everywhere. Uncle Vernon even gave me a back eye when Dudley caught my cold._

Maybe he could lie? Something that required him to leave or else some more ‘freaks’ would show up.

_Yeah, that might work. Can’t be a summer assignment though, they wouldn’t care about my grades… I know! What if somebody died? I could be required to come to the will reading. Some distant family member. But no, they would complain about why this person or others didn’t take me in. Even if it’s a friend of the family, they might want whatever I was given in the will._

Frustrated, Harry threw the letter on his desk and stalked over to the window, staring morosely out into the dark street. Hedwig hooted curiously.

Turning to his first friend, Harry sighed again. He was sighing a lot today. “Sorry Hedwig. Its nothing you can help with unfortunately. I wish I could just fly away like you do. It would make everything so much easier to live as an owl.”

He gently carded his fingers through her chest feathers. “Guess you want to go out and hunt, huh girl? There’s no reason for both of us to starve.” Opening the window, he carried her the few feet from her perch in her cage to the open air, laughing a bit as she took wing excitedly, obviously happy to be stretching her wings again.

She was so beautiful flying through the night sky and Harry was happy to see her happy.

_Now how do I convince them to let me leave?_

~

Eventually, Harry got to sleep that night, tossing and turning as his thoughts zig zagged from ringing to Goblins to Hermione. Harry finally woke up and decided to stay awake in the early hours of the morning, intent on figuring out his most recent issue and making breakfast early so he could sneak some for himself. Hedwig had come back sometime in the night and she was resting quietly in the tree next to the house. He had whispered to her earlier to stay outside today and enjoy the fresh air.

Harry slipped from his room at 4:45, sidestepping the creaky spots on the stairs and hallway, he walked into the dim kitchen intent on food.

He couldn’t make himself anything on the stove in case Aunt Petunia woke up early but two ham and cheese sandwiches later, Harry was finally feeling alive again. Who knew when he would have unsupervised access to the kitchen again so he quickly made a few trips upstairs stashing whatever he thought wouldn’t be missed: a few apples, some more ham and cheese sandwiches (though he’d need to eat those quickly before the meat started to spoil), even a slice of cake wrapped in a napkin since Dudley liked his late-night snacks and cake disappeared the fastest at the Dursley residence.

Heart pounding, Harry decided he’d pushed his luck enough for one morning and started working on the Dursleys’ breakfast. Nothing too fancy, or they’d expect that every morning. The staples were enough. Keeping the finished food over the stove to stay warm (a trick he’d learned years ago), he had a moment to rest and think.

_I could use Dumbledore. They’ve sworn about him before, how he forced me on them and how he’s probably senile. They know he’s important, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, but they don’t talk to him. Aunt Petunia would probably know how to reach him but I doubt she would with how much she hates wizards._

_Yeah, I could play as ignorant as them. Say I don’t know what he needs me for, but he said it was urgent and if I don’t come to him, he will come here to pick me up. If they ask to see the letter, I say it went up in flames. Purple flames. Make it magical and fancy, they’ll hate it more and drop the subject._

A creak in the upstairs hallway alerted Harry to his Aunt coming downstairs (Uncle Vernon was a stomper and Dudley whined from the moment he woke up). It must be 6:00 already. Quickly grabbing one of the warmed plates, he placed Aunt Petunia’s breakfast on the table right as she walked in and quickly busied himself with setting the rest of the table and starting on the dishes.

He could never be sure if she had caught on to his trick, but as long as the food was ready on time and he continued to look like he was busy in front of her, she never said anything.

“Coffee this morning. Vernon has overtime today and he’ll need the energy.” She snapped as Harry was prepping the tea pot. She settled in to eat as he got the coffee pot ready instead and decided to approach her with his idea before Vernon woke up. Maybe if Harry left after he did and before Uncle Vernon came back, he would never have to know. Aunt Petunia might even like that. Keeps everything peaceful.

“Aunt Petunia, I received a letter from Headmaster Dumbledore last night.” She paused with her fork halfway to her mouth, eyes slicing to him across the room so he rushed on. “He said he had something really important to talk to me about and that if I didn’t come by the school this morning, he would pick me up this afternoon.”

She slapped her fork down, mumbling “That bloody freak thinks he can just come in my house…”

Harry quickly continued before she could work herself up, “I thought it would be a good idea to leave after Uncle Vernon and come back before dinner, that way he won’t have the extra stress of worrying about the Headmaster coming by while he’s at work.” _Yes, we wouldn’t want to stress out poor Uncle Vernon on a day that he already has overtime._

She stared at him a moment, clearly weighing the pros and cons of letting Uncle Vernon know and possibly yell at the boy.

“Fine. Vernon will be home at 8 tonight, I don’t want to see you anywhere near this house until 7:30 and you will tell that _headmaster_ that if he dares come in our house, he can find you and all your things on the stoop the very next morning, you hear me?”

She was deceptively quiet in her anger, only refraining from her usual screeching so she wouldn’t wake Uncle Vernon or Dudley.

“Yes, Aunt Petunia.”


	3. Chapter 3

Harry hurried down the street practically skipping in excitement to be away from the Dursleys. Aunt Petunia hadn’t even asked to see the letter and with how disgusted and dismissive she had been, he might be able to do this again. Not all the time, but maybe once or twice more this summer. Dumbledore might or might not bring him to the Burrow again in August so he’d have to time things carefully to not be caught. It was just so amazing to have the whole day to himself… after he’d gone to Gringotts that is.

Turning down a quiet side street, Harry fished his wand out of the ratty backpack hanging from one strap over his shoulder. Lifting it in the air purposely, he jolted as the purple triple decker slammed into existence in front of him.

“Well, I’ll be damned. Harry Potter! How you been, kid? Where you off to today?”

“Hello, Stan. Good morning, Ernie. I would like to go to Diagon Alley, please.”

“Oooh! ‘is the little crazy one again!” The shrunken head greeted in lieu of Ernie’s mumbles. It was still hanging from the rear-view mirror and seemed to have been joined by a two pink fuzzy dice of about the same size. The three swinging and bumping each other as the bus shot forward accompanied by its swearing and laughing while Stan offered Harry some hot chocolate.

As entertaining as it was, Harry was grateful to be back on solid ground and waved goodbye as he walked towards the Leaky Cauldron.

Sneaking past Tom the bartender was rather easy as the tavern was bustling and Harry easily weaved through the crowd. He continued to keep his head down as he strode purposefully down Diagon, intent on making it to Gringotts without someone noticing that the great boy-who-lived was in public.

Finally, he made it to the great wide steps of Gringotts and walked in with a solemn nod to the goblins guarding the door. If he’d learned anything from Professor Lupin and Hagrid, it was to respect magical creatures. _And why wouldn’t wizards be respectful? They literally control all our money. You’d think all those goblin wars Binns likes to go on about would teach people that goblins shouldn’t be messed with._

Walking up to the nearest empty teller, he followed the letter’s instructions and asked for Account Manager Bloodclaw. The goblin stared at him intently before calling to a nearby (younger?) goblin in gobbledegook. Harry shifted nervously while the second goblin had his turn to stare before tersely stating “Follow me”.

About five minutes and a dozen twisted hallways later, Harry was led into Bloodclaw’s office. Bloodclaw himself was sitting in a high-backed chair in front of a curved desk piled with papers. Another plainer chair sat in front of the desk and while the room lacked windows, every wall was covered floor to ceiling in drawers, labeled in a scribble Harry assumed was gobbledegook.

“Come in Mr. Potter, we have a lot to discuss today.”

Harry tentatively sat after greeting the professional looking goblin. He seemed to be wearing a miniature muggle style suit of the finest fabric. How odd.

“Alright Mr. Potter, we have a lot to discuss today but to start with my name is Iphor Bloodclaw, I would prefer if you simply refer to me as Bloodclaw and I have been the Potter Family Account Manager for 108 years. I have aided three heads of house in that time and I hope to work closely with you to bring the Potter family back from the brink of ruin. Before we can discuss anything else however, I must inform you that you have inherited the Potter family magical ability. Though I have been sworn to keep the secrets of the Potter family, I request that you read this letter from Charlus Potter before we continue.”

Harry could really only nod and accept the scroll from Bloodclaw. What do you say in a situation like this? Unrolling the rather long letter, Harry settled in read. Thankfully his first question, who exactly was Charlus Potter, was answered in the first paragraph.

**Dear Potter descendant,**

**Its weird to write a letter to someone who doesn’t exist yet but I you hope will. My name is Charlus Potter, brother to Fleamont Potter and second son of Henry Potter, uncle to James Potter. Today is August 4 th, 1978. Fleamont died three months ago of dragonpox just like his wife Euphemia mere days prior, making James and I the last remaining Potters. James was supposed to pick up the mantel of Lord Potter next, but he is too wrapped up in his new marriage and fighting ‘the good fight’ as he likes to say. Instead, I am the Proxy Head.**

**It is up to me to wrap up our estates and keep them organized in the hope of some future generation taking up the mantel of our proud family.**

**The last year has taught me to value whatever time I have left and prepare for the worst. Although he is uninterested in our history or estate, James is young and hopefully he will continue the Potter line. I can only assume he did so if you are reading this letter.**

Harry paused here, Charlus seemed to have a rather disappointed view of James. It was odd to read such a normal, maybe even negative opinion when everyone was always talking about how he was such a good man. It made sense though, no one was perfect and people don’t like to speak ill of the dead.

**Account Manager Bloodclaw has helped me greatly these past few months and has been a friend of the Potter family since he took over our accounts during my father’s time as Lord. I encourage you to rely on his good judgement. He can be a little quirky for a goblin but he is honorable and wise.**

**In the case that this letter has reached you upon your coming of age, you are now able to ascend as Lord Potter of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. If James has not already allowed you access to the family tomes (or if he is dead), I recommend you go through as many as you can including the Heir’s Chest, the Heads’ Journals and the family Grimoire at the least. Our family has a long and honorable history of neutrality in the British Wizarding World (check out Linfred’s Journal for the story of how he escaped his rather puritanical Italian family and emigrated to Britain, he was a rather whimsical and free-thinking wizard). I hope that you come to respect and understand why we have such a history and why our family motto is Quaerere Veritatem, _Seek the Truth_.**

**The greatest secret of our family and the most important piece of this letter is that over the centuries our family’s dedication to honoring truth manifested in an inherited magical ability to detect falsehoods in others’ speech. The mendaxmagus ability is much like the famed Black metamorphmagus in that it is unique to the Potter bloodline, not every descendant has the ability and it is highly valued. In fact, there is such a potential for manipulation and misuse that this ability has become the greatest secret of the Potter family. James in his immaturity and neglect of the family, was not trusted with this secret but it must be passed on, if only to warn those of our bloodline who survive that it might pop up. It is now your responsibility to protect this secret.**

_That’s me! This must be the inheritance Bloodclaw mentioned!_

**It is my greatest hope that this letter has instead reached you at a younger age because this means that you have manifested the family magic like myself. With only two Potters remaining, it is my greatest fear that our family’s magic would die with me. The ability can manifest anywhere between the ages of 11 and 15 and will have phased in and out before solidifying enough for Bloodclaw to track you down. Again, since I am unsure of your own survival or James’, I recommend you go through the Heir’s Chest as well as the hidden mendaxmagus journals. They will be stored with the Heads’ Journals and only visible to one with the mendaxmagus ability. In particular, I recommend you read my own ‘Journal’ as I wrote it as more of a guide to the new mendaxmagus. Before me the last person with the ability was my great-uncle Rudolph who died long before I was born and although all of the Heads including my father and brother know of our secret, they are unable to give advice on how to live with it or use it effectively. I had a right blasted time figuring everything out myself, hence the guide.**

**Finally, I again recommend that you consult Bloodclaw, ask questions and don’t be afraid to make demands. Whether you are the last Potter or not (hopefully not), you have a responsibility to our family’s great and honorable history. I wish you luck continuing it.**

**Sincerely,**

**Charlus Davis Potter**

**Proxy of Lord James Charlus Potter of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter**


	4. Chapter 4

Harry glanced up at Bloodclaw, finally done with Charlus’ letter.

_‘Letter’ my ass, if it were on paper, this would’ve been a packet it was so long. So amazing though, to read something written by my own uncle. I didn’t even know I had an uncle. And if we have such an illustrious history why have I never heard anything about our family? People only talk about James and Lily. I haven’t even heard of neutral families, does that mean we weren’t light even though James fought for the light in the war?_

Bloodclaw noticed Harry was done and cleared his throat. “Charlus Potter died two months after writing that letter in an unfortunate potions accident.”

Harry nodded expecting that. If he had been alive by the end of the war, Harry would’ve been placed with him. But something didn’t make sense… “What would have happened if my father lived and eventually accepted the Lordship? I doubt he would have liked receiving this letter but he would have had to hold the secret right?”

“Indeed, Mr. Potter. Charlus left a second letter for James if he ever came inquiring about the Potter family estates or Lordship. Though over the next three years he never did and it is my personal opinion based on our interactions and what I knew of him that he would not have until he needed something from the estate like the Wizengamot seats or his children asked about their history.”

How odd, this was a whole new side of James that no one had hinted at before. Harry couldn’t imagine not wanting to be a part of his family’s history. All he had left was history. “Can you describe him for me? All anyone will tell me is that he was my spitting image, he was great at transfiguration and he loved pranks.”

“Certainly, Mr. Potter. Though I expect between this and the other issues we need to discuss, that we will be here awhile. I will request refreshments.” Bloodclaw then rang a tiny bell sitting to the side and talked in gobbledegook to the (young-ish?) goblin that entered the room. _The younger goblins must do the labor and rise in rank as they get older, Bloodclaw is a Senior Account Manager and he certainly looks over 100._

“Now, young James was very passionate about what he believed was right and wrong, very stubborn as well. He came to the conclusion early on in his life that everything good was light and everything bad was dark. He did not follow Potter tradition of asking questions and seeking out objective truth beyond his own beliefs. It is my understanding that he got up to a significant amount of trouble at Hogwarts, including a number of rather cruel ‘pranks’ always on children he believed were dark and therefore evil.”

The young-ish goblin returned at this point and set up a simple tea and snack tray on the desk between them before bowing and leaving.

“A number of these children went on to become Death Eaters and are in Azkaban or are dead, but many more are living fruitful and peaceful lives. Fleamont, mostly due to his monetary success and having James so late in life, spoiled the boy. It is possible that the war matured him a bit, I am not sure, as I had no contact with him for the last year of his life. Your parents were hiding under the Fidelius charm, I understand, and had no need to even visit Gringotts.”

Harry was rivetted. He’d never heard such a detailed account of his father and his personality. What Bloodclaw was saying made sense. He’d seen spoiled children before, both in the muggle and wizarding worlds. They believed they were always right and were stubborn in their conviction. Yet, he imagined, when you were their friend you had their steadfast support, which explains how Sirius and Professor Lupin loved James so much. To them, he must have been a great friend.

“I am not sure if he was ashamed of your family’s neutral and grey history, or if he was simply not interested and intent on making a name for himself as an auror. In either case, he never read the books in the Heir’s Chest in the family vault, although Fleamont recommended he do so multiple times. He also made Charlus the Potter Proxy as soon as the Lordship was mentioned after Fleamont’s death.”

Bloodclaw paused to take a sip of his tea and seemed to collect himself. “I believe James Potter was an honorable man at heart and genuinely wanted to do good in this world, unfortunately I also believe that he was too narrow minded to ever succeed if he was given a chance. I hope you, young Mr. Potter, will heed the advice of your family and learn to question what you hear and what you believe.”

He seemed to be done talking and Harry wished he could ask more about James but he’d already been there over an hour and they hadn’t even gotten to the ‘important matters’ mentioned earlier.

“Thank you Bloodclaw, I hope to learn from them as well.” Carefully setting down his now empty tea cup, he continued “You mentioned earlier-“

Right in the middle of talking, it hit him. He hadn’t heard any ringing. None at all since he had entered Gringotts. Did the mendaxmagus ability work on goblins? He knew enough now to know that he wasn’t going crazy and there was definitely some truth to what the ringing meant as well as a lack of it but just in case.

“I’m sorry, sir, but do you mind telling me a lie?” _Wait, no. What if he’s insulted that I thought he might be lying?_

Before he could say anything else, Bloodclaw grinned showing all his pointed teeth. Rather than intimidating, he almost seemed pleased. “Certainly, Charlus asked me the same thing when his father brought him in as a young boy.”

“My name is Griphook Silvertooth _Ding._ ”

Harry let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “You know Griphook, sir?”

“Yes, he’s my nephew. Just got moved from Carting to Accounting. I take it, you’ve met?”

“Yes, he explained Gringotts and vaults to me on my first visit three years ago.”

“I see. Well, I believe you were about to ask me about the legal affairs I mentioned when you came in.”

Harry nodded, he wanted to figure this all out but he also wanted to find out where the Heir’s Chest was and read some of the journals Charlus mentioned. He had originally wanted to spend some time in Diagon today but that was before he knew there was so much to learn about his family. He couldn’t wait!


	5. Chapter 5

Bloodclaw straightened at his desk. “First off, I need to confirm that you are in fact accepting the Heirship with intent to ascend as Lord Potter as soon as you come of age.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.” He snapped his fingers and one of the drawers above his head opened, a tiny black box flying down in front of Harry.

“You would have been heir anyway, but I have watched this family fall from the heights of wizarding society to barely anything. This is the Potter Heirship ring. It has the same functions as any other heirship ring. Please put it on your non-dominant middle finger.”

_Wow, Bloodclaw seems really passionate about the Potters, but what does ‘same functions’ mean? Is this something I’m supposed to know? Oh yeah, ask questions. Bloodclaw isn’t like Uncle Vernon, he’s been very polite so far._

Carefully removing the silver ring imprinted with a crest from its cushion in the box, Harry paused to ask, “Excuse me sir, but what functions does the ring have?”

Bloodclaw seemed unphased “Ah yes, I had forgotten you were raised by muggles. The ring protects the wearer from minor mind magics such as compulsions, also supporting whatever occlumency walls are already protecting the wearer’s mind, heats up when the wearer is about to consume poisoned food or that laced with potions, and vibrates when the wearer of the Lordship ring is in danger. The Lordship ring is similar, tracking the Heir ring in reverse. All heirship rings have the same design, silver with the family crest while Lordship rings are unique to the family. Both rings cannot be taken off by force or accident and can be used to magically sign invoices for large purchases in the place of coinage. This service is also offered to our wealthy customers without an heirship or lordship and using a ring of their choice.”

“Wow, so this thing is super useful!” Harry blurted as he slid the ring on. He didn’t feel much except a slight tingling in his magical core, probably some sort of synchronization.

“Now, on to more serious business. When the tracking device Charlus left me went off, I knew that the last remaining Potter must have manifested. I did not even need to wait to track you down as I knew right away it must be you and you were at Hogwarts. However, you did not respond to any of the letters I sent you since early June. A little known fact about Gringotts’ Administration Department is that we are able to track our missives when we suspect foul play or interference. I found all of my letters as well as every single quarterly report of the Potter family estates that I have sent since the fall of 1981 in the Hogwarts Headmaster’s Office. Those reports were supposed to be going to your legal guardian, a miss Violette Greengrass…”

He paused to shift through the papers on his desk, all the while, Harry felt like the floor had fallen out from under him. _Why does Dumbledore have all my letters? Maybe the reports, I can understand. Maybe he was keeping them in order until I was older but the letters… They explicitly asked for me to come to Gringotts. And who is Violette Greengrass? Is she related to that Greengrass girl in Slytherin?_

Bloodclaw seemed to have found what he was looking for. “Yes, Violette Greengrass is your Grandmother Euphemia’s younger sister. She is your closest living blood relative in the magical world so you were supposed to have been under her care after the guardians requested in your parents’ will did not work out.”

“They had a will?” _Why did it never occur to me that they had a will?_

“Yes, they had a joint will which was read on November 5th, 1981. Only one person showed to the will reading, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. None of the offered money and items have been claimed, though the claimants were sent missives notifying them of the reading and later of what they had been bequeathed”

“I don’t… I. If Dumbledore kept my letters, do you think maybe he kept theirs? Professor Lupin was one of my father’s best friends he had to have been in the will but he’s never mentioned anything and… and I believe he rather struggles for money. I don’t see why he wouldn’t have claimed anything if he was in the will.”

Bloodclaw narrowed his eyes angrily, forcing Harry to suppress a flinch. Angry goblins are scary looking. “Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for witches and wizards to skip out on a will reading but given Dumbledore’s actions and your assessment of Mr. Lupin, I will look into it after our meeting.”

“A related item on the agenda is the now suspicious withdrawals from the Potter family vault. Headmaster Dumbledore has shown up at Gringotts each summer for the past four years with the Potter family vault key and a written letter of permission from yourself, allowing him to withdraw 50,000 galleons each time for ‘philanthropic support’. His last visit was a week ago. I need verification now that you are here that these withdrawals were under your orders.”

Harry was on the verge hyperventilating. 200,000 galleons! What did he even need that much money for?

“I never gave permission. I didn’t even know there was a separate key for the family vault! I don’t… Do you have a copy of the letters?”

“I do Mr. Potter” He handed Harry another smaller scroll. “We keep copies of all authorizations for this very reason.”

Harry scanned the page, it was very generic, simply stating exactly what Bloodclaw said in clean handwriting like that of a dictating quill. But the signature…

“This is not my signature. Its how I write my name on personal items and homework but it is not my signature.”

“I see.” Bloodclaw seemed to be vibrating with rage. “Thieves are unacceptable in Gringotts and I would like to offer you our sincere apologies for this oversight. This will be brought to Chief Goblin Ragnok’s attention today. I would recommend waiting on any actions regarding Dumbledore until Chief Ragnok has had a chance to look through all the accounts involved and track your missives and keys.”

“Thank you Bloodclaw, I’ll do that. I wish I knew why he did such a thing. He and I have our issues but I thought he was someone I could trust.” Harry sighed, he felt like an elephant had just settled on his shoulders. He already had worries about Hermione and Ron’s comments, now this mess. He was still excited to see what Charlus was talking about but things were so much simpler when he didn’t have to think about betrayals, estates and responsibilities.

“Today has been enlightening at least, you seem to be growing into a fine young man, Mr. Potter and I look forward to working with you in the future. I expect we will be conversing regularly from here on out as we get your affairs sorted.”

“Speaking of affairs, you mentioned that Violette Greengrass was _supposed_ to be my legal guardian but who is my actual guardian? I’ve been living with my mother’s sister Petunia Dursley, born Evans. Or do I need to go to the Ministry to find out?”

Bloodclaw nodded, seemingly happy to do something for this boy who Gringotts had left open to thievery. “That is indeed a Ministry affair, however, as your Account Manager I can take charge and investigate on your behalf. I will include my results in your next letter – which from here on out will be keyed to your heir ring. This will allow our owls to go around any owl redirection wards that may be set up.”

“Thank you”


	6. Chapter 6

Harry was starting to feel the effects of all the stressful revelations, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep focusing and not miss something important. Thankfully, Bloodclaw seemed to sense his waning energy and decided to bring the meeting to an end since all their issues had been discussed.

“Mr. Potter-“

“Harry, please. You’ve been such a great help already and like you said, we will be working together from here on out.”

Bloodclaw seemed happy with the informality, “Harry then, I believe that was all of the major issues for today. All that’s left is for you to visit the Family vault if you would like or your trust vault. The Heir’s Chest is there as well as the majority of the Potter family library, moved to the family vault after Charlus’ death, as stipulated in his own will. I believe he worried about the legality and safety of some of the tomes. As heir you are allowed to remove any of these physical items as well as a maximum of 50,000 galleons per year. Dumbledore, even with written permission was not allowed to take any objects from the vault but has already reached your withdrawal limit with his visit last week.

This will be fixed but it will take a couple days, in its place I would like to offer you one of Gringotts’ patented expansion bags as part of our formal apology. It has the same basic expansion charms as the bags on the market in Diagon with the addition of being connected to a vault of your choice and protected by goblin magic. You simply think of the amount of money you would like to withdraw and the coins will appear in your hand as you reach into the bag. The protections make the bag thief proof as they are attuned to the user’s magical signature, even refusing to work if the user is under duress and being forced to remove money or objects. We only offer them to our wealthiest clients at 5,000 galleons each.”

Harry was blown away. He wasn’t that concerned with being able to take out money right now but the bag would allow him to bring whatever he found in the vault back to the Dursleys! And keep everything safe!

_Plus, Gringotts already does money exchanges for muggleborns and halfblood. I wonder-_

“That sounds amazingly useful Bloodclaw, thank you. Am I also able to remove muggle money? I know Gringotts does exchanges.”

“Yes, what you remove are not the same physical coins being removed from your vault, only the amount, so requesting muggle currency works as well.”

“Awesome!”

“Indeed, Harry. We have a few styles as you see here.” He began pulling multiple pouches from under the desk. Simple brown ones, green ones, embroidered ones, some that looked like they were made of some sort of snake skin.

Harry’s eye caught on a nice simple black one, inconspicuous enough to look like a simple coin purse in the muggle world but sturdy with fine silver stitching around the mouth and a silver tasseled drawstring. “I’ll take that one, please” he said pointing.

“Certainly, you can of course connect it to the Potter family vault but I would recommend in your case simply connecting to your trust vault. You have 6,702 galleons remaining of your allotted 7,000 galleons for the 7 years of Hogwarts.”

“Yes, sounds good. So vault 687?” Harry was definitely crashing now, the bag fixed some of his more immediate problems and he could feel his eyes starting to become scratchy in an effort to keep them open.

Bloodclaw simply waved his hand over the bag and nodded, passing the bag over to Harry. “I can see you are running on fumes, Harry. I will call for a cart driver to take you down while you rest a moment.”

With that, Bloodclaw jumped from his seat with surprising agility and walked over to the door, stepping outside and leaving Harry alone for a moment. Harry took a deep breath, closing his eyes. It didn’t feel quite right to be left alone in Bloodclaw’s office, like there should be some rule against leaving clients alone with other clients’ personal information but maybe there were magical safety features. He couldn’t muster enough energy to care too much, simply grateful for the minute of peace. There were so many things he needed to think about but they would have to wait. He can embrace paranoia when he’s stuck in his room at the Dursley’s. Right now he needed to push it all aside so he could check out the vault, maybe take some of the books Charlus mentioned and get something to eat because it was definitely past lunchtime now and he shouldn’t waste an opportunity to eat a decent meal away from Aunt Petunia.

~~~

Harry heaved a tired sigh as he sank into a back booth at the Leaky. It was already 4 PM and he was exhausted. He’d already ordered a meal from Tom at the bar so he was able to lean back in his dark corner and think about his overwhelming visit to Gringotts while waiting for his food.

The family vault had been more than amazing. The room was gigantic, almost as big as the great hall at Hogwarts and split down the middle with one side literally filled with stacks and stacks of galleons. He should’ve realized the Potters were filthy rich with the _heir’s_ withdrawal limit being 50,000 per year. Apparently multiple ancestors had created some very lucrative businesses and in the 800-ish year history of the family they hoarded money and books like no other.

He’d spent way more time than he should have just wandering the valuables side, admiring the rows and rows of bookcases, racks of expensive silks and even a globe of some sort with shining dots scattered across the world.

Eventually, he got down to business and found the bookcase with the Heads’ journals and basically emptied the last 5 generations’ into his new bag. Much further back and the English was hard to read. The ‘hidden’ mendaxmagus journals were on the lowest shelf and he had the same problem, only taking the newest 3 including Charlus’. After that the Heir’s chest took a bit to find as there were over a dozen chests of varying sizes throughout, but he ended up smacking his own head when he did find it. The damn thing was so obvious with fancy engravings all over and a huge imprint of the Potter family crest, which he’d figured out was a griffon. It was also magically expanded and seemed to hold even more books, some odd gadgets and some formal looking robes. He was happy to discover that the whole thing disappeared into his bag with a thought as he’d been mulling over how to get such a big, heavy trunk through such a tiny bag opening.

Harry’d been tempted to pick out more books from the dozens of shelves but he knew he already had a lot and with how Aunt Petunia works him from dawn to dusk, he might not even be able to read those. Not to mention his summer homework.

_Ugh, that’s another problem. Uncle Vernon locked the cupboard and all my homework’s in my trunk. Should’ve realized something like this might happen after last summer’s break-out._

He had left Gringotts soon after that and used his bag for money for the first time when he bought a muggle cap at some knick-knack shop. He wanted food but being spotted would bring way too much trouble. Not only would the crowd get annoying but no doubt someone would notify the authorities or even worse, Dumbledore. Who knew what the man would do when he figured out that Harry knew that he’d been stealing.

_Note to self, tell Bloodclaw to send Dumbles one more letter so he thinks he’s still getting my mail._

Hopefully they’d hear back from the head goblin soon.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of Potter family history this chapter but more action coming soon!

It’d been a week since his visit to Gringotts and Harry couldn’t remember a more pleasant week with the Dursley’s, ever.

Aunt Petunia had apparently enjoyed her free day without the freak and had started locking him in the room after breakfast, only letting him out for bathroom breaks and to clean up after dinner while she spent time with Vernon and Dudley. She even used the catflap to feed him once a day when she had lunch and as long as he didn’t make a peep, she pretended he wasn’t there.

It was wonderful.

Plus, he’d had the brilliant idea before coming back to the house to go to the grocer and stock his bag with food. So he had plenty to eat, enough peace and quiet to read and Hedwig for company. Though he’d only gotten through the Heads’ journals so far.

Although dense and difficult to read since they were all handwritten, the journals had been fascinating. The Potters were definitely an interesting bunch. The Head journals talked about the important events pertaining to the Potter family, actions by family members and their personal lives.

Franc Potter was the earliest Potter he’d read about and was the Head before Theodore Potter, the writer of the oldest journal he had. Apparently, Franc was the one to create the Potter crest with the screaming griffon which was highly debated because of its association with Gryffindor. The family was proud of their variety both in blood purity and house affiliation. Theodore was frustrated that his attempts to change the crest were proving fruitless since Franc was a very successful businessman and the crest was already synonymous with the family image when he took over. Theodore married late in life to a young wife, Ursa Black and they had two children, Maximus and Mary. Mary apparently married into the Longbottom family and was the source of a family alliance.

Maximus Potter was very family oriented but dabbled in politics and investing. Janis Potter, his wife was an acclaimed inventor and a never-ending source of pride for Max. She was a pureblood Slytherin at Hogwarts before catching Max’s eye and a passionate volunteer at St. Mungo’s where she specialized in potions accidents. Later in life, she turned her potions and charms skills towards inventing, making the Potter family a significant amount of money from things like self-stirring rods and the idea of lining certain cauldrons with other materials to make certain potions more stable.

Max and Janis had two girls and two boys, one of which was Charles who was the next head and one who was Rudolph who Harry remembered from Charlus’ letter was another mandaxmagus. Although Max did not go into much detail about his daughters and there seemed to be some sort of personal issue between the three of them.

Charles followed in Max’s political footsteps and spent a lot of his time (and journal) on the Wizengamot. Through his rambling about laws and alliances, Harry was given a peek at how the Wizengamot ran and how sneaky one had to be to get anything done. Charles, like his mother, was a Slytherin but had a strong respect for Hufflepuff, which was apparently what Max was. It was unclear, but Harry suspected from some of the mentions about Rudolph that Charles used Rudolph’s ability to help make some of his political decisions like his decision to vote yes for making the Imperious curse an unforgivable. Although it had medical origins, there was too much room for abuse.

Charles eventually went on to marry a Greek muggleborn witch named Clara, introduced to him through his Aunt Penelope (one of Max’s unmentioned daughters) when she worked as a traveling Ancient Runes specialist. They had two sons: Henry and David. David seemed to be a rather free spirited, clashing heads with Charles often but Charles still loved him dearly, simply wanting him to settle down and get a damn job. Henry, the next Head of the family and Harry’s great grandfather, also worked politically and spent a great deal of time working against and calling out the then-Minister for Magic for forbidding magicals from helping the muggles during the war, which Harry realized from the dates must have been the First World War. Henry and that Minister butted heads frequently and Henry was frustrated by the ministry’s corruption as well as their tendency to give misleading information to the public.

Unfortunately, the Spanish Flu which had swept muggle Brittain mutated magically in the early 20s. The resulting pandemic wiped out the majority of the Potters’ extended family including Henry’s wife and his brother David (Charles and Clara had died of old age only a year prior). Left with two young boys, Fleamont and Charlus, Henry moved out of politics to focus on his family, dabbling in arithmancy work for the Ministry on occasion.

Fleamont ascended as Head of the Family upon his Father’s early death in 1959 at only 70 years old, which Harry was starting to figure out was still considered middle-aged for wizards who could live into their 150s. Fleamont was very much a businessman and paid very little attention to personal affairs until his 40s when he met and married Euphemia Greengrass, rather late according to his friends – Harry had to wonder why that was if wizards lived so long. Before then, Fleamont was a Ravenclaw with a passion for potions and worked tirelessly in making his Sleakeasy’s hair products a household name. He was apparently very successful and doubled the family’s vaults when he went international. When he married Euphemia, Harry noticed that his writing took a 180 degree turn. He was suddenly focused on starting a family and although they got started right away, Euphemia had a weak constitution and after the first few miscarriages they had decided to stop until an accidental pregnancy that went so smoothly they couldn’t believe it.

That was James. James was supposed to be the next Head and have his own journal after Fleamont’s death in 1978 but he never took up the mantel. Though Harry had a better idea of how James might have been spoiled. Fleamont and Euphemia had basically given up hope of having a family before their miracle baby. Plus, after James’ birth, it was clear how much Fleamont adored his family from his writing. James was a charming and fun-loving child who brought joy to their lives and who Fleamont and Euphemia protected with a vengeance. When Sirius and the marauders came into the picture, they were given the same loving treatment – especially Sirius who apparently ran away from home in James’ sixth year and the Potters took in. Fleamont had quite a bit to say about Walburga Black tarnishing the name Black with her treatment of her son and fanatical devotion to ‘that violent upstart Riddle’. A bit of a shock, but Fleamont wrote that he knew of Riddle through Charlus and seemed to look down on him more than anything, hardly mentioning the war except to say Riddle had become trigger happy and needed reigning in. Such an odd assessment compared to everything else Harry heard about the war.

Harry’s mother, Lily, was only featured in Fleamont’s journal a few times. First as James’ schoolboy crush and later as his young love and wife. Fleamont and Euphemia loved Lily too though, they thought she was a brilliant witch with a compassionate heart who still had enough spark to keep James on his toes. The wedding was beautiful and held at Potter Manor (somewhere in Gloucestershire county according to one of the other journals).

By the time Harry came to the end of Fleamont’s journal, he was crying silently. The last entry was about how excited Euphemia was for grandchildren and how the couple was trying to convince his parents to ‘get on with it’ at the prior night’s dinner. Lily had blushed as red as her hair but everyone was laughing and they sounded so happy. He guessed Fleamont must have stopped writing when he caught dragon pox.

Hedwig hooted gently, concerned about her master’s tears.

“Sorry, Hedwig, nothing to worry about.” He stood up replacing the journal to his bag. He never left anything out just in case his Aunt or Uncle came in.

“I miss them. I never met any of them but I miss them.”

Harry wiped his tears and stood to wait by the window. His ‘family’ was going out to dinner tonight and Aunt Petunia had forgotten to lock his door after his afternoon bathroom break. Any minute now they should be leaving and he would have a chance to break into his cupboard.

_How fucked up is this? I’m actually trying to get back into that damned cupboard for the lovely opportunity to do my summer homework._

He chuckled to himself at the irony. Any other near 14 year old boy would be happy to put off his homework but Harry couldn’t help but feel guilty.

His family members had all been so brilliant and each was successful in their own way, clearly thinking for themselves and not letting whatever society said dictate their actions. Charlus was right, they had an honorable history and he couldn’t help but feel like he was letting them down with his lackadaisical attitude.

He barely tried in his schoolwork, preferring to goof off with Ron, he’d chosen his electives not because they were useful or he was good at them but because they were easy and he could spend time with Ron. He hadn’t even sought out any sort of information in the wizarding world. He had no idea how their government ran or what they did before the journals, but what were their laws? Was there anything he should be aware of besides keep magic a secret and don’t use magic outside school? He didn’t know where the hospital was or how to get there; did wizards have insurance or healthcare?

Yes, he’d been overwhelmed in the beginning but he was about to enter his 4th year and he’s never even thought about what he might not know.

_Hence my newfound desire to do homework. I’m not going to let myself slack off anymore. I’m supposed to be the next head of the Potter family and I need to start acting like it._


	8. Chapter 8

Harry was about ready to take a hammer and slam his way into the cupboard. He’d tried everything he could think of to jimmy the new padlock Uncle Vernon had added but picking a lock was not as easy as the telly made it out to be.

He was running out of time and needed to get in. He had his ears peeled for the Dursleys’ car in the driveway but if he didn’t get in soon, he’d have to wait who-knows-how-long for another opportunity. He couldn’t even try at night since she’d been locking him in until it was time to make breakfast.

He wished he could just use a simple unlocking charm but he couldn’t use his wand!

Then he heard it. That telltale rumbling and crunching of tires on a driveway and his heart picked up.

“ _Alohamora_ , dammit!” Harry smacked the door with his palm.

_Click._

It unlocked. Too excited to think and hearing the engine turn off, Harry slammed the cupboard open and dragged his whole trunk out, wishing it into his bag like the Heir’s chest.

Just as he heard the car doors slam closed, he snapped the lock back on and rushed upstairs.

Panting heavily, he sank back on his bed in relief and growing shock.

_What just happened? Was that wandless magic? Fred and George mentioned last year it was possible but didn’t they say only the most skilled wizards could do it and only after ages of practice? They were trying it out to improve some of their pranks but hadn’t had any success in months. And I just go and do it on accident?!_

Harry was tempted to try again but what about the trace? Was he going to get a letter from the ministry? He couldn’t risk it. For all he knew, the owl could already be on its way.

~~~

Two days later Harry was ready to try. With no note from the Ministry, he was pretty sure the trace must be on his wand. Wandless magic, therefore, had no age limit.

He had enjoyed getting letters and mini cakes from Ron, Hermione, Sirius and Hagrid at midnight (although Hagrid’s was a suspicious mix of fluffy and hard lumps) but the short well-wishes and brilliance of his first birthday cakes were a harsh reminder of the world outside Privet Drive.

If he was able to figure out wandless magic, he would never have to worry about the Dursleys again. If they decided to lock him in and starve him, he could get out secretly. If Uncle Vernon decided to take the belt to him again, he could fight back easily. Not to mention how useful the skill would be in general.

Harry had decided to try out the most basic stuff first and work his way up.

Setting one of Hedwig’s shed feathers on the table he concentrated and incanted “ _Wingardium Leviosa.”_

The feather didn’t move.

But that was okay, he had a couple theories.

He tried again, waving his hand at the feather. Nothing.

Finally, he touched the feather with the tip of his finger on his third try. He had slammed his hand into the door after all.

Lightly lifting his finger, he was elated to see it follow his hand up into the air and side to side.

_It works! It works! I can actually do wandless magic!_

A tapping at the window broke his concentration and the feather drifted to the floor. A Gringotts owl. He recognized the owl’s letter strap and its insignia this time.

Opening the window and taking the letter, Harry watched the owl fly off silently in the evening air.

Harry sat down at his desk and unrolled the letter.

**Dear Harry,**

**Thank you for your patience this past week and a half, and congratulations on your birthday today. I have information about the issues we discussed last time and would like you to come in at your earliest convenience. You will be happy to know that I also sent a final letter to ‘you’ per your instructions so our troublemaker may believe he had received your final notice. A subtle charm on the parchment told me he read the letter and it is now stored along with the others.**

**May your gold flow and enemies tremble.**

**Iphor Bloodclaw**

_Well fuck. How am I supposed to get out again so soon?_

~~~

By the next morning, Harry still didn’t have an answer and decided to simply inform Bloodclaw of his situation. He didn’t like to talk about the Dursleys but Bloodclaw was already dealing with all his finances, his family’s holdings and looking into his guardianship. He would need to know.

Nevertheless, Harry tried to keep his letter generalized. Simply stating that the Dursley’s were unfit guardians and frequently withheld food as well as locked him in. After some thought, he added that he also wouldn’t be able to use public transportation again since Dumbledore had insisted on him staying with the Dursleys multiple times and people tended to talk when they saw the Boy-Who-Lived in public.

He ended up practicing wandless casting for about an hour and a half before a chirp from the open window caught his attention. A hawk was sitting, peaceful as can be, on his windowsill. Harry was very confused before spotting the letter attached to its leg. He approached carefully, but the hawk was as calm as any owl and stayed on the windowsill waiting for a reply.

Harry sat at his desk, dragging out some parchment and a pen before reading the letter.

**Dear Harry,**

**Your situation shocked and concerned me. I will try and find a way for you to visit in person but for now, this is Mars, my personal messenger hawk. He specializes in speed and security so we will be able to talk about your more sensitive issues through him without worry.**

**First off, I should inform you that Chief Goblin Ragnok has reviewed the Potter files and agrees with our accusations of theft. He traced your taken assets from Dumbledore’s Acct to:**

**Four Gringotts accounts: Molly Weasley, Sirius Black, Hermione Granger, Arabella Figg**

**One sub-account under Dumbledore named by him as for ‘The Order’, which regularly disseminates to over a dozen individuals.**

**One muggle account: Petunia Dursley**

**Furthermore, due to the pattern and regularity of transfers, we deduced that part of what is sent to Mrs. Weasley is being given to Ron Weasley and Ginny Weasley. Likely with their cooperation due to the fact that it is a significant amount for their family and their brothers are not receiving anything.**

**Following Gringotts policy, we will take back all of what you were owed plus a customary 5% interest. Parts of which would be through assets such as properties and stocks depending on the guilty party’s percentage of guilt based on amount stolen. A few of the thieves do not have enough collateral to sufficiently pay their debts. Their accounts will be emptied, and we can discuss how you would like them to make up the difference.**

**Additionally, we can administer Goblin Justice on the thieves which will entail a number of years of work in the mines for most of those involved and the direct beheading of Albus Dumbledore.**

**You also have the option of going to Wizarding Court, taking our files as evidence but there is less of a guarantee of justice.**

**Now, based on what we talked about earlier I have also investigated the missives sent to the recipients of your parents’ will. All of the missives have been destroyed. This makes it difficult to ascertain if your suspicions are true but we can host a re-reading of the will if you desire for everyone involved or on an individual basis. Given how some of the individuals invited are on the above list of theives, I recommend you hear the will for yourself before proceeding which will require you to come in person.**

**I have also looked into your official guardianship with some difficulty. Your Ministry file, by order of Chief Warlock Dumbledore, has the highest security possible for a civilian. When I was finally able to gain access, I discovered that you have no legal guardian.**

**I suspect that with Dumbledore’s position and public reassurances to your safety, no one even checked. I am not sure if Violette Greengrass ever sought guardianship but there is no mention of her or the Dursleys in your file. Legally, you could leave your relatives’ house immediately with no repercussions. If this came to court, Mrs. Greengrass would be offered immediate custody as she should have been back in 1981, though if she turned it down, Dumbledore may have some sway over where you are sent.**

**However, it would not be back to the Dursleys as it is not common practice to send wizarding children into non-magical households, even more-so if their mistreatment were to ever come out.**

**Please think through your options and send me your reply. Mars is a patient bird and will wait. He likes blueberries if you have any.**

**May your enemies flee before you,**

**Iphor Bloodclaw**


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to CPeach for pointing out that some clarification was needed about the various accounts that Dumbledore paid with Harry’s money.
> 
> The four Gringotts accounts mentioned are accounts Dumbles paid directly. Ron and Ginny are being paid indirectly through their mother. Then Dumbles has a large account for ‘The Order’ which is used to pay some of the members (including Lupin, we will get more of this eventually) and bribe lots of more people.
> 
> Looking back, I realized that there was actually a minor mistake where I left something from an earlier draft:
> 
> “Only two of the thieves do not have enough collateral to sufficiently pay their debts: Ron Weasley and Remus Lupin.”
> 
> Now replaced with:
> 
> “A few of the thieves do not have enough collateral to sufficiently pay their debts.”
> 
> After further thought I had decided that it was likely that Ron and Ginny would have wasted their money but fall under the responsibility of their mother, Hermione would have spent it on books and it’s a secret account so she can’t ask her parents for help (though she might come clean when she’s desperate), and some of the poorer Order members are likely living ‘paycheck to paycheck.’
> 
> Ch. 10 will deal with the debts more and explain some of how I imagine Gringotts works.
> 
> Hope this clears things up!

Harry sat at his desk for a while. Things were about to change and he could feel it. He doubted the goblins would allow him to postpone taking his money back. They hated thieves with a passion. But the justice part was a little extreme. He didn’t quite want to subject everyone on that list to goblin justice. He really wanted to trust Sirius. The man broke out of prison to protect him from his parents’ betrayer. He hoped that maybe Sirius didn’t know where the money was coming from. But then the same question could be asked of all of them. Sure, he has his doubts about Hermione and Ron now, and Aunt Petunia certainly didn’t deserve any money but that didn’t necessarily mean they knew it was his money. They were just accepting payments from Dumbledore.

That opened a whole other can of worms, though. Why was Dumbledore paying everyone close to him?

He wished he could just sit Dumbledore down and ask him. His new ability would certainly come in handy there.

That thought decided it. With the DMLE or ‘wizarding courts’ as Bloodclaw called it, he’d at least get some answers and be able to tell for himself if they were true.

As for guardianship, he didn’t really care. He’d definitely need a lawyer for both issues, maybe Bloodclaw knew a good one, but he wasn’t staying at the Dursleys’. He’d stay one more night, get a confirmation from Bloodclaw and hopefully leave in the morning. He didn’t even need to worry about his trunk since it was still in his bag. But if he had the opportunity to get out of this wretched house, he was taking it. He’d stay at the Leaky Cauldron or something.

20 minutes later Harry attached his carefully worded letter to Mars with half a blueberry scone from his bag as thanks.

While waiting for a reply, Harry brought out Charlus’ journal/guide. If he was going back to the wizarding world so soon, he needed to get a handle on his new ability or it would be more of a distraction than a help. He hadn’t started it since he was stuck at the Dursleys where it didn’t matter if they were lying ‘cause their word was law.

Interestingly, the book was written more like a textbook than a journal and it was clear that Charlus wrote it later in life as it was organized into topics for chapters instead of diary entries: ‘Read this first’, ‘The early days’, ‘Useful’, ‘Lessons I learned the hard way’. Overall, the guide wasn’t too long, and the first section was especially short so Harry got to reading hoping to get through it before Mars returned.

**Welcome and congratulations my descendant! You’re a mendaxmagus. More than likely, I am dead. If not, feel free to go to me for hilarious anecdotes or, for the studious, further explanations.**

_What the hell? He sounds like a variety show host._

**My first pieces of advice are to read this guide in its entirety and learn occlumency, if you haven’t already. I have a list of recommended books in the ‘Useful’ section and most of them can be found in the Heir’s chest or the Manor library.**

**Keeping your ability secret should be your first priority, always, both for the family and for yourself. Never underestimate a wizard or witch’s greed. You WILL be taken advantage of and you WILL be put at risk if your ability becomes public knowledge. If you must reveal yourself to someone, have them swear the vow on the last page of the ‘Useful’ section. As a plus, occlumency will help your memory and your ability to focus. I found it especially useful in crowds to avoid a ‘ringing’ headache.**

**Second, trust the mendaxmagus magic. I doubted myself too much in the beginning and it almost cost me my brother. The ability will work on any spoken word or indication through body language even if not directed at you. It does not work on languages you do not already understand, questions or commands. This means if you are talking to a veela or house-elf, the magic will still work. Note, though, that the magic works on the individual and what they believe is true, not objective truth. So, if they don’t think they are lying, you will not hear that tell-tale ring.**

_Interesting, I wonder if it would work on snakes also? Parseltongue probably counts as a language I understand._

**My third and final piece of advice is to never lose faith that there is still goodness in the world. Knowing and hearing lies every day can be troubling and it is important to remember that people lie for a variety of sometimes complex reasons. It does not necessarily mean that they are malicious or even truly deceitful. You need to question those around you but also those around them. Motives and intent are important for understanding the bigger picture.**

**Good luck my friend.**

_Huh, looks like I’m going to be reading a lot this summer if I’m gonna be starting those Heir books._

~~~

Later that evening, he got his reply from Bloodclaw agreeing with Harry’s desire to leave the Dursley residence and explaining that the Potter family had a longstanding contract with Dunn & Dune Law and that he could arrange an appointment when they spoke the next day. He also recommended that Harry check out some of the Potter properties for somewhere to stay, they were all under lockdown but his heir ring will allow him access.

Mind made up, Harry went about checking his room for anything he might leave behind like a stray feather of Hedwig’s or Merlin forbid, one of his books. He didn’t know how it worked but he’d heard of tracking magic before and he didn’t want to leave anything that could be linked to him. With everything that was coming to light, it was super suspicious how much Dumbledore was insisting he stay with his relatives, even paying Aunt Petunia on the sly and Harry wouldn’t put it past the old man to drag him back kicking and screaming.

Sleeping was difficult that night and Hedwig was restless, seeming to feed off Harry’s anxiety.

Finally, Harry decided that he had waited long enough and at 4:30 he let Hedwig out with instructions to wait at Gringotts for him. With her cage shrunk into his bag like the trunks, he put the whole thing in his ratty backpack and snuck out of the house. His bedroom door only gave him minimal trouble as he’d been practicing the wandless casting and as long as he touched the door, it was easy. He could even do it with a wave of his hand now if he really concentrated.

_One more thing for me to look up. Why is wandless magic so easy when everything I’ve heard makes it sound so hard?_

His anxiety spiked when the front lock clicked loudly behind him, but 2 minutes of near-sprinting took him far enough away that he felt safe stopping to breathe and dig out a banana. He hadn’t even thought about it but in retrospect he was thankful the expansion bag seemed to have preservation charms, even though Gringotts probably didn’t intend such an expensive bag to be used for daily necessities. He’d have to thank Bloodclaw again.

With some food in him, Harry set out for the Surrey train station. He knew a lot of the neighbors took the train into London for work, so he’d follow the crowd. He had decided before falling asleep that he would make his way to the Leaky Cauldron the muggle way even though it took longer. It was too risky to take the Knight Bus, especially since Stan seemed to recognize him on sight last time.

When Harry finally made it to the tavern hours later, he was about to drop in exhaustion and frustration. He’d gotten lost three times on the way here, twice on the Underground and once walking from the closest stop. London was a twisted mess of streets, subways and bus lines that he hoped to never have to tangle his way through again (or at least not without a guide).

Walking into the magical establishment, Harry had a shock and quickly ducked behind another patron. Not even 2 meters from him, sitting at a booth by the entrance were Lupin and Arthur Weasley. They seemed to be whispering over their drinks and thankfully not paying much attention to the crowds.

Tilting his head as if he were checking a watch, he sped up and briskly strode through the tavern. It was another of the tricks he’d learned with the Dursleys and especially around the neighborhood. People noticed you less if you looked like a busy stranger, minding his own business. Trying to hide or sneak past people was strange and people noticed strange.

Though in his rush, Harry didn’t see the confused black eyes from under Lupin’s table, tracking him across the room from the moment he had walked in.


	10. Chapter 10

Walking into Gringotts was a relief. Despite the sneers of the tellers and the stressed out patrons, Harry knew that at least here, he didn’t have to worry so much about being spotted and you don’t ever want to lie to a goblin so the ringing stopped too. Getting through the alley had been nerve-wracking and headache-inducing. So much ringing and jostling when he just wanted to get through the crowds with his head down unnoticed.

The goblins must have known he would be arriving, however, since he was quickly approached by another young-ish goblin. It was getting easier to tell their ages. They were all wrinkly, fanged and fierce but the younger ones seemed to have less age spots and stand just a bit taller. Bloodclaw had been stooped and speckled, even in his fancy suit, which made sense for over 100 years old. Harry wondered about the lifespan of goblins and what a child might look like as his goblin guide led him through the twisting, maze-like hallways to Bloodclaw’s door. He knocked twice and the doors swung open on silent hinges.

“Welcome young Harry. I’m glad to see you in good health.”

“Thank you Bloodclaw” Harry replied, seating himself on the chair in front of Bloodclaw’s large desk again.

Bloodclaw shuffled through the piles on his desk before dragging out a packet, a piece of thick parchment and a small box in front of Harry.

“We have another busy day ahead of us but before we start, I will update you on how your finances are being recovered. Gringotts takes theft very seriously and Chief Ragnok himself, has managed the return of your finances. We will respect your decision to take this to Wizarding Court but as of today we have taken back everything you are owed including multiple properties and valuables of equivalent value.”

Pointing at the parchment and box, “This lists all the properties owned by the Potter family and in the box are one-use portkeys to each residence you have not visited, which is all of them. I have just finished adding your new properties: The Burrow (formerly owned by the Weasleys), 12 Privet Drive (formerly owned by Arabella Figg), and 4 Privet Drive (formerly owned by Petunia Dursley). Additionally, we confiscated two very old and valuable tomes from Molly Weasley’s vault to cover the debts incurred by her two children as it was clear they spent all of the money they had been given. The tomes are in your vault with a note about their origin. We thought this was a better option than completely emptying the Weasley family vault as it was likely that her other children and perhaps the husband were not involved. Furthermore, although Sirius Black has yet to ascend as Lord Black, as the official heir, his remaining debts after emptying his personal vault were paid by the Black family account.

This packet holds documentation about the thefts, transfers, percentages of guilt and amounts owed as well as the actions our Accounting Offices took to reclaim your funds. Your solicitor will likely want to discuss it all with you.

Those with not enough in their vaults and not enough properties or valuables to liquidize include: Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Hermione Granger. Have you decided how you will handle these outstanding debts?”

Harry sat back, trying to absorb all the information he had been given. The whole subject hurt to think about but he wanted to hope for the best.

“For now, can you put a note on their accounts to forward any money they make to me? I really want to trust Remus so things might change, but for now, this should work. Also, I know people are living at all of those houses. Leave them be for now, until we know more. Will Gringotts be notifying any of them about the withdrawals or debts? I wanted to keep this under wraps but that’s probably not possible, right?”

“We do not help thieves. They will find out the next time they try to access their accounts and they can inquire then. We will be obligated to at least tell them that it was a result of an audit and that the money given to them was not Dumbledore’s to give. It will likely become, what are wizards calling it now, a shitstorm?”

Harry chuckled, “Yeah, shitstorm about sums it up. How they react might also tell us if they knew Dumbledore was stealing.”

“Yes. In any case, I am in the process of organizing the rest of your files for perusal by your solicitor. I reached out to Dunn & Dune Law to make sure they are willing to continue their contract with the Potter family and they agreed. They are willing to see you at any time and we can arrange for a meeting here.”

“Perfect! Would tomorrow work? I want to get this stuff started as soon as possible.”

Bloodclaw nodded approvingly. “I will arrange it for noon tomorrow. Now, the next two items on the agenda are related. Your guardianship and your parents’ will. They mention who they wanted to receive guardianship in the case of their death.”

Bloodclaw reached under his desk and brought out a pink crystal orb with a flat bottom as if someone had taken a laser to it and sheared off one side.

“Wizarding wills are recorded in their own voices as a way of honoring and remembering the dead, which I heard, is very different from muggle wills.” He raised a single eyebrow at Harry and waited for Harry’s nod.

“Thank you for warning me, Bloodclaw. I’m ready”

Bloodclaw tapped the orb with one of his long claw-like fingernails and the orb began glowing gently.

**_This is the last will and testament of James Potter and Lily Potter nee Evans._ **

_That must be James. That’s my father’s voice._ Harry had to suppress a sudden lump in his throat.

**_With the birth of our son Harrison James Potter, Harry, we give the following to our friends and the family of our heart:_ **

**_To Sirius Black, we leave James’ prank box, our school photo album and the half-built Mustang in the garage in Godric’s Hollow. We hope that you will be a shining star in our son’s life and teach him how to find humor in every situation._ **

**_To Remus Lupin, we leave you the Potter Cottage in lower Wales. It’s been abandoned for years, Moony, take it and move out of those damn dingy apartments. Otherwise, we also hope you will be a big part of Harry’s life, teaching him the value of learning and how to comb a library like the best._ **

**_To Peter Pettigrew, we leave you 15,000 galleons to get a new wardrobe and makeover. We haven’t supported you as much as we should have over the years but you’ve been a loyal friend and we hope you can show our son the meaning of friendship._ **

Harry clenched his fists. _So they really didn’t even suspect Peter…_

**_To Albus Dumbledore, we leave a lifetimes supply of Limmy’s Lemondrops. Don’t get diabetes, old man._ **

**_To Frank Longbottom, we leave 15,000 galleons to finally renovate your greenhouses. You’ve been talking about it for years, just do it._ **

**_To Alice Longbottom, we leave the entirety of Lily’s Charms research and jewelry collection._ **

There was a short pause before Lily started speaking, forcing Harry to hold back tears. It was one thing to hear her screaming during Dementor-induced flashbacks, but to hear her voice, happy and loving, was a dream.

**_To Severus Snape, we leave you 30,000 galleons to get out of that awful house in Spinner’s End as well as my, Lily’s, memory box which I’ve stored in the family vault for safekeeping. I hope you will share stories of our friendship with Harry if it turns out we are unable to raise him. Thank you for being my friend Severus, I was a stubborn little girl in school, but if we make it through this war you can bet your ass I’m tracking you down and we are going to talk, mister. I saw you in Dumbledore’s office, I know you’re on our side!_ **

**_Lily, the list._** James interrupted her rant.

**_Oh yes. In the case of our early death we transfer guardianship of Harry to the following individuals in descending order in case of further death or injury:_ **

**_Sirius Black_ **

**_Remus Lupin_ **

**_Frank and Alice Longbottom_ **

**_Severus Snape_ **

**_Under no circumstances is Harry to go to my sister, Petunia Dursley. She has continued to speak ill of myself and the wizarding world over the years and she would not be a fit guardian for our son._ **

**_Finally, to Harry, to our beautiful baby boy, we leave everything else. If you are listening to this Harry, we love you so much. We hope you will grow up happy and kind, the world needs more kindness._ **

**_We hope that this will is not necessary but if it is, know that no matter what you do or how you grow up to be, we are proud of you._ **

James interrupted again, **_Even if you’re a Slytherin – I bet you’ll be the greatest Slytherin Hogwarts has ever seen!_**

 ** _James!_** Some rustling sounded over the recording.

**_My husband’s right though, Harry. We love you and as long as you are happy, we will be too._ **

Bloodclaw cleared his throat as the crystal dimmed. “I reminded them that the Wizarding Court system was unlikely to put you with a muggle family but Lily insisted on adding that in about your Aunt, ‘just in case’.”

“Yeah, lot of good that did. I’m curious though, I had no idea Snape knew my mom and what was that about him being on ‘their side’?”

“I have my suspicions, though Lily was adamant that she trusted him that that they needed to put him in the will. James seemed to dislike Mr. Snape, referring to him as Snivellus, but eventually agreed. This was the only time I met Lily and one of the few instances I saw James. They did not explain their reasoning to me.”

Harry nodded vaguely, thinking about how Snape was one more person he needed to figure out.

“What about the Longbottoms? I had heard my parents got along and I know their son, Neville, from school.”

“I looked into your potential guardians before this meeting. Lord and Lady Longbottom were tortured to insanity during the war and now reside in the long term care of St. Mungo’s. Their son was raised by his grandmother, Madam Longbottom. Sirius was in Askaban, arrested for betraying your parents and continues to be a wanted criminal. Due to tightening werewolf legislation during and after the war, Mr. Lupin would not have been allowed guardianship by the Ministry. Mr. Snape, interestingly, was tried for being a Death Eater but acquitted due to Dumbledore revealing that Mr. Snape had been working as a spy. I suspect this was what Lily might have been referring to if to all other appearances, he was supposed to be their enemy. He remains a viable guardian. Mrs. Greengrass, your last relative, has been out of the public eye for decades though her son-in-law was also accused of being a Death Eater. It never went to court due to insufficient evidence. As a recluse, Mrs. Greengrass was not close enough to James to be included in the will.

Aside from deciding what to do about the recipients listed, I recommend you give some thought to choosing your own legal guardian. This would not otherwise be possible except for Mr. Dumbledore’s interference and the fact that the field was left blank in your Ministry file. Selecting a guardian would be as simple as filling in the missing information on our copy.”

Bloodclaw tapped a rather slim manila folder off to the side. “After going through all that trouble to find your file, I thought it would expedite future efforts for me to hold a magical copy with the rest of your account.” He added a rather evil smile towards the end, clearly happy at whatever trick he must have pulled to get the documents.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI I haven't decided if there's going to be romance in this or not but you're hereby warned that there might be slash. Some of my own favorite fanfics were Harry/Severus or Harry/Draco so its always a possibility, even though there's nothing planned yet and I haven't even decided if Harry will be gay, straight or straight-up confused.

_So I can choose my own guardian? I hardly know any of these people though and Sirius…._

Harry chuckled lightly, “You know, Bloodclaw, Sirius was actually innocent of all crimes. The whole situation’s a mess, I don’t even know if I can trust him. But he definitely would have been my guardian if he weren’t framed.”

“Framed you say? That is odd. I’ll have to talk to the account manager for the Black family, he’d be interested in examining Sirius’ trial transcript.”

“Oh, he didn’t get a trial.”

“Didn’t get a trial?!” Bloodclaw sat back and his eyes widened almost comically.

“Yeah, Sirius himself explained to me how he was shipped straight from his arrest to Azkaban, no holding cell, no trial, nothing. Granted, my ability was still coming in when he told me all this but I’m reasonably sure he was telling the truth since I met the real betrayer, Peter, alive and in person.”

Bloodclaw sat forward and grabbed a small parchment, scribbling away before ringing the little bell by his side and sending the message off with another goblin.

Re-focusing on Harry, Bloodclaw has a serious look in his eyes. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Not only is it a grievous oversight of justice, but the Blacks are a very old very powerful family. Their account manager will be furious that such a thing happened to a family under his jurisdiction. He’s been complaining for years that such an important account has been sitting dead on our ledgers and was frustrated that the heir is now on the run and still hasn’t contacted him. This is a chance for Gringotts to reach out instead, and make quite a bit of money offering our services.” Bloodclaw got that evil smile again and Harry felt a shiver go down his spine.

_Yep, goblins are still creepy. Note to self, never upset Bloodclaw or any other goblin for that matter._

“Won’t you get in trouble for helping a fugitive?”

“Gringotts is part of the Goblin Nation, this is sovereign soil and as such, we are not held accountable to your Wizarding Courts. We can and often do work together out of respect and necessity but issues like who is a fugitive or who is whose guardian are irrelevant to us normally. This is why Dumbledore was initially allowed access to your accounts. Having the key and signed permission from the heir is acceptable enough. We keep track of accounts, estates, investments and due to a treaty from about 500 years ago, the passing on of family titles. Otherwise we also offer services and some goods like the expansion bag for a price.

I have no doubt that his account manager will be reaching out to Mr. Black soon and I apologize if it causes some trouble for us down the line, however my loyalty is first and foremost to Gringotts and protecting our interests.”

Bloodclaw had stiffened during his explanation, unsure if his actions to help another account manager would be misconstrued as helping Harry’s enemies.

But Harry simply smiled ruefully. “There’s no problem, Bloodclaw. I understand you have other responsibilities and honestly, I agree that something needs to be done. I believe he is innocent and no matter what he might be wrapped up in with Dumbledore, the fact remains that he spent over a decade in Azkaban for no reason. I hope his account manager is able to do something.

About my guardian, however, I really don’t want to choose one. At least not yet. I have questions for all of them and I’ve been taking care of myself my whole life, I don’t need someone to look after me.”

Bloodclaw nodded his agreement. “Alright, though your solicitor will no doubt still want to see your Ministry file and begin preparing in case this ends up going to court.”

“Yeah, I can explain things tomorrow. As for the recipients of the will… I don’t want to give Peter anything and I think I need to talk to Sirius, Professor Lupin and Professor Snape first. Though I’ll probably end up giving them what was willed, no matter my issues, they all seemed close to my parents. As for the Longbottoms, I’m not sure. Is it possible to call in Madam Longbottom and give her everything without having her hear the will? It will raise too many questions and we don’t need more people involved in this mess.”

“Yes, we can take the individual route I mentioned in our correspondence. When you feel the time is right, simply let me know. As for Madam Longbottom, she is the proper recipient and can be approached without re-opening the entire will. This is also possible for the men I just mentioned if you would like to keep things simple, though I believe hearing the entire will would also work towards exposing Mr. Dumbledore’s interference. Especially for this Mr. Snape as Mr. Dumbledore is his employer.”

Harry sat back at that point. Bloodclaw was right, none of the recipients except Dumbledore attended the original will reading. Lupin and Snape were the only ones really available anyway at the time, but it doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t. Snape was a right bastard as a professor, but Harry knew he was probably an ok or even decent person. The man had jumped in front of a werewolf to protect him not even three weeks ago. He wouldn’t ignore his old friend’s will, especially if he was a spy, and he would probably be pissed at Dumbledore for hiding such a thing from him this whole time.

_Though, I’m not sure if he would have accepted guardianship. He seems to truly hate my father._

Harry sighed knowing he was going to need to talk to grumpy man soon. “I agree Bloodclaw, and I will keep that in mind. In the meantime and before we move on, something you mentioned reminded me – what’s being done about Dumbledore having my family vault key? I completely forgot about it before.”

“Ah, the key was destroyed. We offer keys as a means of identification and security. For large family accounts, it is quite common to pass their keys on to trusted family members or associates who need access to the account when the primary holder is unavailable. Since the key is a magical creation linked to your account, simply destroying the link, destroys the key, which is sometimes necessary if it is lost or stolen. No doubt, Mr. Dumbledore thinks he has simply misplaced the key for now. When he comes inquiring about a new one, he will also find out about his depleted accounts and have other things to worry about. If you would like a key of your own, I can have one made.”

“That won’t be necessary, Bloodclaw, thank you for explaining. I never really thought about why there were keys, especially since I was able to access the family vault without one.”

Before the two could continue, the manila folder holding Harry’s Ministry files began to glow brightly, piercing their eyes and causing them both to look away.

When the light faded, Harry looked to Bloodclaw in shock and confusion.

“It appears there’s been an update in your file.”

“THAT was an update? So flashy.”

Bloodclaw opened the folder and began skimming Harry’s file, continuing with half-attention, “Yes, the changed file won’t glow but copies will, indicating there’s been an update… similarly, if we update your guardianship, the original will glow in the Ministry.

But this, oh my, Harry. Someone has filed a marriage contract for you and a Miss Ginevra Weasley, Ginny if you will.”

“WHAT?” Harry shot to standing in front of the desk where Bloodclaw gave him a small glare but handed over the document.

Harry started scanning but it was filled with a lot of legal jargon and he could only make out some of it, namely that he and Ginny were promised to be married. Knowing he was probably missing some of the details he handed it back to Bloodclaw and slumped into his chair.

“That can’t be legal.”

“It is not. Dumbledore has signed in place of your guardian and Mrs. Weasley in place of Ginevra.” Bloodclaw took a moment to scan the contract again before continuing. “Given that he is not your guardian or even a member of the Potter family, he has no legal authority to put forth or enforce the stipulations here if you were to refuse to marry. It is written that you would lose half of all the Potter estate and owe the Weasley family a debt of 100,000 galleons if you do not wed by the time Ginevra is 17 including if you were unable to wed due to death or marrying someone else.”

Harry choked out a breath. What the hell.

“The entire contract is honestly a bit ridiculous. It is not immediately clear but some of the details under what will happen if you follow through and get married remind me of old wizarding bride sales, only you are the bride.” Bloodclaw looked at Harry amused over the rim of the page. “Ginevra would become your head of house, in charge of all monetary and household decisions. You would be under her complete jurisdiction including if you tried to run away or rebel against her decisions, she would be legally allowed to punish you as she sees fit. These types of clauses were meant to keep unruly and unwilling brides in line hundreds of years ago.”

Harry was furious. Theft was one thing but now they were trying to steal his freedom, and his family’s legacy if he refused. He was trembling in his anger at Dumbledore’s audacity and Mrs. Weasley’s betrayal. She had welcomed him into her home and he had hopes that maybe she didn’t know that she was using his money. But no, how long had they been planning all this? Was it really a coincidence that Ron became his best friend?

“Nothing to worry about though, Harry. The contract is certainly illegal. Especially since we can date it and at this date, Dumbledore has no authority to be signing in your stead. It is also interesting that Mr. Weasley, Ginevra’s Head of House, did not sign which would be reason enough to deny the contract.”

_Well, that’s something at least. More evidence that I might be able to trust SOME of the Weasleys._

“Your solicitor, when we meet him tomorrow will explain how to go about nullifying such a contract. I admit, its been many years since I have seen such a thing. In fact, I think it was back during my training a few decades before I became a Junior Account Manager, when I last saw an illegal contract. The punishments for such are very severe among your old wizarding families so very few try such a thing.”

Harry snorted at that. He could imagine the wrath an old family like the Malfoys might bring down on someone who would _dare_ to try and force them into anything.

He was somewhat reassured though. If not immediately, then tomorrow or very soon after, he could get rid of the atrocious contract. He was NOT marrying Ginny. She was cute in her own way, but creepy as all hell and obsessed with her appearance. He wasn’t even sure if he liked girls yet. Oliver was just as attractive as Ginny in his opinion, and if he had to marry a Weasley, he’d pick one of the twins, at least they knew how to have fun!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit short but the next few are longer!

“Wait, Bloodclaw, how old are you exactly?”

Bloodclaw chuckled and gave Harry a cheeky grin, or as cheeky a grin as possible for a goblin. “You caught that did you? I’ve been the Potter Account Manager 108 years, a Senior Account Manager 10 more, I was a Junior Manager for 75 years before that and was in training, working various other positions within Gringotts for 40 years. Plus my childhood, I’ll be going on 250 soon.

Harry’s jaw dropped in shock. Bloodclaw seemed old, yeah, but not that old.

“Holy-… Is that normal? I thought wizards had a long life expectancy but wow.”

Bloodclaw laughed loud and long at that. “Oh no young Harry, among magical creatures, wizards have the shortest life expectancy. Even Veela who have the next shortest lifespan and frequently intermarry with wizards, frequently live to around 200. Goblins, if we survive the fighting pits and clan wars, live to around 400. Though it is common to retire around 300 which I plan to do. If you ever have the pleasure of encountering an Ent, they have the longest lifespans known to the magical world and can live for thousands of years. Practically indefinitely if they weren’t hunted so severely.”

Harry was blown away. This was fascinating, why hadn’t he heard about these creatures before?

“I’ve heard of Veela before in Charlus’ journal but I’m not sure what they are and what’s an Ent?”

Bloodclaw was clearly amused by Harry’s curiosity. “Veela are an interesting breed of magical creatures native to France and Germany that are similar to birds but look like shockingly attractive blond wizards and witches when calm. They can grow wings if they desire, frequently sprout claws when angry and stronger Veela have the power to manipulate elemental flames. In addition to being attractive overall they also have an innate magic called allure which will seduce and ensnare the will of any witch or wizard in the vicinity, given that they are attracted to the Veela’s gender. For instance, if a woman encounters a female Veela and is utterly unattracted to any other women, she will not feel the allure. They used to be hunted for sport centuries ago before the French muggle and wizarding revolution. They now hold significant power in the wizarding governments in that part of the world.”

Harry was amazed, he hadn’t thought much about the international wizarding scene but of course, the British Isles weren’t everything. “How come I’ve never heard of or seen Veela here? I saw some French sounding tourists in the Alley just this morning.”

“The British Ministry of Magic is rather bigoted in my opinion, and have very strict creature laws, only just barely considering Veela, as well as Goblins, sentient magicals able to govern ourselves. The Centaurs have been trying for the same recognition for decades but no luck yet. Obviously, this adds a bit of tension to public relations and tourism is much less popular when the locals don’t consider you their equal.”

Harry frowned in thought. That was so stupid. All one had to do was talk to a Goblin or a Centaur, and probably a Veela, and they’d know that they were people too.

“Ents are guardians of old forests. Although sentient, they were typically private creatures that ignored wizards, goblins and basically every other magical as long as they respected the Ents’ forests. They were and still are hunted for their bark, cores and eyes which are considered extremely rare and valuable potions ingredients. The last colony I heard of was in the depths of Russia about 50 years ago, they were wiped out in the west centuries ago…

As fun as this history lesson has been though, I am sure you are hungry and would like to get on with your day.”

Harry blushed deeply as his growling stomach made itself known.

“Going back to your properties,” Bloodclaw handed Harry the parchment from earlier next to the box of portkeys, “Please read through the list and choose which you would like to visit first. All of the portkeys will send you to the edge of the wards of that property where your heir ring will be recognized by the wards and let you in. From that point on you will have access to the property through floo, apparition or simply crossing the ward line. There should be an Access Book somewhere on the premises of each property where you can add individuals to the wards. Take note that once you enter for the first time as the heir, that property will no longer be on lockdown and anyone on the Access Book can get in and might be a security risk. So correcting the book should be one of your first priorities.”

Harry nodded, taking the parchment and starting to read down the list. He was excited to find himself somewhere to stay and maybe checkout his father’s childhood home.

**Potter Manor, Gloucestershire (lockdown, unplottable) – pence**

**The Marauder’s Den, Godric’s Hollow (lockdown, broken fidelius) – pebble**

**Potter Cottage, Wales (lockdown) - pinecone**

**The Owl House, Ireland (lockdown) – feather**

**The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole (6 residents) – nail**

**12 Privet Drive, Surrey (1 resident) – leaf**

**4 Privet Drive, Surrey (3 residents) – wrapper**

“What does unplottable mean? And I know what the fidelius charm is but why does it say broken fidelius? Wouldn’t it just disappear? I hadn’t even thought of the fidelius still being around”

“An unplottable residence uses a combination of rune work and charms to make a building unable to be found or mapped physically. The results are very similar to the fidelius charm but can be overcome with extreme force and allows for guests to visit easily just not through the air or on the ground. Unlike the fidelius which is borderline dimensional magic twisted with mind magic, unplotting is not as complex to set up or maintain. It was the height of security about a hundred years ago but is really only seen in manors nowadays as a means of preventing muggle mapping of the area. As for the fidelius, it relies heavily on the secret keeper’s continued loyalty and presence. The keeper can, of course, betray the secret, but they must also visit the hidden location every few months to renew their magical promise or the charm will break, opening the location to anyone. Though the broken charm leaves a magical residue behind making renewal possible but more difficult as time goes on, this residue is what our census picked up.”

“I guess I’ll go to the manor then. It seems like the only good option since the Cottage is supposed to be abandoned and I’m not really interested in going to Ireland today or rehashing my parents death.”

Bloodclaw nodded his agreement. “Then I will see you tomorrow at noon. I will keep the documents we want to give your solicitor safe. As one of Gringott’s biggest clients, feel free to floo into our waiting room, location ‘Gringotts Bank’, I will have a guide waiting for you.”

“Great and thank you so much for your help in all this.” Harry stood picking up the list of properties and box of portkeys.

He dug out the 1 pence coin but paused after putting the rest in his bag. “You know, I kinda guessed what it was, but how do I use a portkey?”

Bloodclaw chuckled, “I apologize, that was my oversight. Most portkeys are keyword activated, some are timed. They can be one-use like these and then become a simple object, or they can be multi-use. Infinite-use portkeys are tricky to make and very rare. It is also possible to make one go through security wards but again, tricky and expensive to make. These portkeys are all one-time-use, specifically from inside Gringotts’ wards or another unwarded location to the edge of your wards and their keywords are what they are listed as on the property list.”

“Ah, I see so this one is a pence-

Harry was immediately sucked into the void, pulled by a hook in his stomach, twisting and turning until he was dumped unceremoniously on a patch of dirt and grass.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, dear. I made a bit of a mistake back in chapter 2. I completely forgot about the month of July. I imagined that Harry would start everything only a couple days after getting back from school in June, then there is a time skip of a week and its somehow his birthday???
> 
> So, I will be going back and fixing that after this chapter is posted.
> 
> To those up to date, please pretend that Harry received his first letter from Bloodclaw around a month after getting back from Hogwarts. That month was a normal, horrible month with the Dursleys and I will be moving forward under this assumption (there will be details about how that one letter got through the wards later).
> 
> UPDATE: corrections complete

Groaning as he struggled not to be sick, Harry sat up slightly.

_Fuck that was awful. Shouldn’t have been so stupid. He literally just said they were keyword activated._

Looking up and around, Harry noticed he was on the side of a gravel country road with trees on either side for as far as he could see before the road curved. Behind him a couple meters was what looked like a very old, overgrown dirt driveway. He stood shakily and turned to what must be the edge of the Potter property but before he could take a step he felt the heir ring on his finger buzzing and warming, almost like it was excited. Very quickly the feeling subsided only for him to suddenly be aware of the wards right in front of his nose.

Harry stumbled back hastily, almost falling down again. But when he looked up, there was nothing. He couldn’t see anything but somehow he _knew_ exactly where the edge of the wards were. He could tell that they were buzzing gently like his ring was and as he walked carefully forward, crossing the ward line, Harry was overwhelmed by a sudden sense of _welcome._ It was like the wards were alive and happy to welcome him home. He only had to wonder a moment about where the driveway led, when he just knew again that it would twist and turn, going uphill slightly for a few minutes until the tree line would end and he would face the manor.

Harry smiled delighted at this new discovery. He started jogging up the path, dodging weeds and hedges that had sprung up after over a decade of growing wild. Coming up on the end of the treeline, Harry stumbled to a stop to stare in awe at the manor.

It was beautiful. Built with large stone walls covered in ivy across one side, there was a small staircase leading to wide double doors in a rich dark wood. The entire front lawn and the sides he could see were a maze of stone paths and plant beds. They were all clearly overgrown but the layout was intricate and he could imagine the impact color and greenery might have if they were well tended. The manor seemed quite large, with three stories and what looked like windows to an attic under the slanted roof.

His excitement seemed to resonate with the wards in a happy echo, encouraging him to come in. So, he did.

Finding a path to front door was a little difficult but when he finally made it, Harry couldn’t help but let out a little laugh at the fact that this was all his. It was old and it needed a little elbow grease if the rusted door handle was any indication, but it was steeped in history and he loved it already.

Opening the door, Harry stepped into a bright parlor. He hadn’t noticed the window above the door but it seemed to light up the whole room, plus he could see sunlight streaming into an adjoining room with a fireplace. That must be the floo access. Harry had just turned to close the heavy front door when he heard a series of pops behind him. Swinging around, he was faced with three small house elves armed with pots on their heads and kitchen utensils, though they seemed just as shocked to see him as he was to see them.

The oldest looking elf stepped forward, staring at Harry’s face intensely before whispering in awe, “Master?”

The elf’s eyes seemed to tear up just as the younger two broke into broad excited smiles. Suddenly, the first elf broke into heaving sobs and threw himself at Harry, clinging to Harry’s legs and crying out happily. “Master, Master, oh we have a Master! We thought Master had died and that all those that could be Master died!”

The two other elves were jumping and skipping circles around Harry, sometimes clapping their hands while Harry stood frozen.

_Well. I guess it makes sense the Potters had house elves, it is a rather large house to take care of without help. But what are they still doing here? Are there others? Have they been alone all this time?_

Harry finally stooped down peeling the still sobbing house elf from his legs and taking him into his arms for a hug, while patting his back and trying to shush him. This just made the sobbing intensify and the two skipping elves stopped to stare with their eyes bugged out and big ears twitching.

Finally, after a few minutes, Harry looked to the two and asked his questions including what to call them.

The two squeaked and linked hands suddenly looking nervous. It occurred to Harry as they stood side by side that they looked practically identical.

At this, the older elf seemed to calm down enough to address Harry.

“Master Potter, we is Tilly, Dilly and Lee. The last remaining Potter elves. Lee is oldest and served last Master nearly 20 years ago until Master and Mistress died. In the beginning, family magic was alive and vibrant, hidden but still there, so we wait. But three years later magic was suddenly cut off. Elvsies couldn’t wait any more. Some tried to live, left to find new families. Some stayed and died. Tilly and Dilly born after magic cut off so mostly okay but still dying slowly without family. Lee was lucky. Lee served Master closely every day and so had much magic to draw on but Lee still dying. Lee not sure how long Lee have left. Lee was going to send Tilly and Dilly away soon.” The elf had started crying again but softer this time, mumbling about how he should have trusted master and shaking his head.

Harry was impressed. He’d tried having conversations with Dobby but the elf could barely string together two sentences and was extremely hyperactive. He’d somehow gotten the impression that that was just how house elves were, but this Lee seemed very articulate even with the strange grammar.

“Well, thank you for explaining that, Lee. Do you know if there are elves at the other houses? I don’t want to leave them there alone.”

“No, master.” Lee was shaking his head sadly. “Elvsies who stayed came together to share magic. Tilly, Dilly and Lee alone.”

Harry nodded thoughtfully. “And you still want to stay? You don’t want to be free?” Dobby had been ecstatic to be free, Harry wasn’t quite sure why these elves weren’t. Maybe they were simply loyal to the family? Given what he knew, the Potters were probably kinder masters than the Malfoys.

All three elves suddenly looked like Harry had kicked their puppy. Confused, sad and a little scared.

“Master doesn’t want us?” Lee asked cautiously.

Harry backtracked quickly. “I’ve only met one elf before and he was really happy to be free.”

Lee was shaking his head, the sad look in his eyes morphing into more confusion. “Elvsies can’t be free. Free elvsies die with no family magic. Maybe elf was suicidal?”

Harry barked out a laugh not only was it weird to hear such a word come out of the elf’s high-pitched voice but Dobby? Suicidal? He doubted it. But did that mean Dobby was dying? He’d have to check, he owed Dobby too much to let that happen.

“Lee, can other elves come here if I call them?”

Lee seemed happy to help and perked up noticeably. “Yes, Master. But only when called by Master.”

“Thank you, Lee.” The elf preened while the two now standing cautiously in the corner stared at their interactions. “Dobby!”

Dobby popped into the room. “Master Harry Potter, sir! How can Dobby help Harry Potter?”

Harry eyes the elf’s eccentric attire. It seemed Dobby discovered a love of socks since the last time they’d spoken. He had them sown together in a colorful, mismatched toga and wrapped around his arms. “Dobby, I have just discovered the Potter elves and they told me how elves need a family’s magic to survive. Is this true? And if so, are you doing ok? I didn’t mean to hurt you when I freed you Dobby.”

Dobby started wringing his hands in his toga and trembling slightly. “Oh! Mister Harry Potter is kind. Such a kind wizard. Caring for Dobby. Yes, Harry Potter, it is true but Dobby is good. Dobby became Hogwarts elf. Such kindness, yes. Didn’t want Dobby hurt. Harry Potter is the best wizard.”

At this point, Dobby had put his head in his hands and started crying slightly continuing to mumble about Harry’s kindness and greatness. Harry was very uncomfortable. Quickly thanking Dobby and telling him to have a nice day, Harry heaved a bit of a guilty sigh when Dobby finally popped away.

Lee chose that moment to speak up. “Dobby seems like a nice elf but very strange.”

Harry agreed completely. “Yes, his previous master was very mean and I think that affected him somewhat. But at least he wasn’t suicidal. So anyway, Tilly, Dilly and Lee, as long as you’re happy here, welcome to the family.”

Harry was cut off from continuing when all three glowed green for a second before Lee laughed excitedly and looked on the verge of tears again. The quiet elves jumped up and started twirling with their hands together, spinning in dizzying circles as they smiled and skipped happily. Obviously, something big just happened.

Lee must have noticed Harry’s confusion as he calmed immediately before standing straight and coughing to get the attention of the two still spinning. They jumped nervously before dashing to Lee and standing at his sides. “Tilly, Dilly and Lee thank Master for renewing the house elf bond. We are happy to once again, serve Potter family. What would Master like us to do first?”

“Ah, I see. Well, like I said, as long as you’re happy I don’t really care. I’ve lived my whole life taking care of myself and others. In fact, I lived very similarly to Dobby for a long time. Its only recently that I’ve discovered my history along with a bunch of other stuff that we can get into later. I would really prefer if you just call me Harry and feel free to talk to me. I obviously need a tour of the manor and I guess, I would also appreciate your help in keeping the place clean. Its quite large and I’m bullocks at the cleaning charm.”

Lee seemed taken aback by Harry’s attitude but the two, which Harry were realizing were definitely twins, just smiled happily.

“Yes, Master Harry.” Harry sighed, he could tell Lee was probably a stickler for the rules with his proper posture and everything, it’d be a work in progress.

Over the course of the next few hours Harry discovered many things about the Potter Manor as well as Tilly, Dilly and Lee. The two young ones were ten years old and apparently mute. They seemed scared Harry was going to throw them out for this until Harry explained that he was would not be giving them clothes unless they told him they wanted to be free. Though they’d need to start carrying around notepads so the three of them could communicate. Lee had raised the two and could read them like an open book with minimal gesturing, but Harry needed help even telling them apart.

Lee had apparently been Master Fleamont’s personal assistant, helping him with day to day things as well as attending some of Fleamont’s business meetings. With no one in the manor and while there were other elves around, the twins were raised in a catch-all capacity. While most elves usually specialized in something like cooking, cleaning or gardening, Tilly and Dilly learned a little bit of everything.

Though there was a bit of a riff between Harry and Dilly when they reached the kitchen and Harry suggested he could cook his own meals. Apparently, Dilly had always dreamed of the day he could cook for his own master. Lee was practically glowering in disapproval at Dilly speaking up against their Master but calmed down as Harry laughed the situation off and accepted Dilly as ‘the king of the kitchen’, as long as they agreed to eat together - sometimes. Lee would only accept sometimes. Putting his foot down that some things were simply unacceptable.

When they got to the Master Study Harry was suddenly reminded of Bloodclaw’s advice to check out the Access Book as soon as possible. Lee summoned it from one of the tall shelves behind the big oak desk. It was a large study with paintings of landscapes, colorful tapestries and another fireplace surrounded by couches and comfy tables.

Opening the Access Book, Harry was happy to see that it was empty meaning no one currently had access to Potter Manor besides him. Lee explained how that was a security feature Charlus had added after Fleamont’s death. When he wanted to add people, he simply wrote their name in while thinking of their face and the ink would turn blue when the individual was written into the wards. The ink would turn green if someone with access was on the premises and to remove someone all he had to do was cross their name out and the ink would disappear as their access was removed from the wards. Lee promised to explain more about the wards and how they worked to Harry another day.

Finally, Harry came to rest in the Master bedroom flopping down on the bed Tilly had cleaned while they finished touring the attic. It had been a long tour. He saw the library, which covered two stories, he saw the grand dining room, almost a dozen guest rooms, multiple parlors, some smaller studies and the most ridiculously fancy bathrooms. The basement was rather creepy though. It had the typically cellar and storage sections but also multiple prison cells since apparently the manor was old enough for that to be normal in a Lord’s house.

Dilly was currently preparing dinner as there were some still viable vegetable gardens the elves were surviving off of and Harry insisted ‘just vegetables’ was fine with him. He didn’t need anything fancy and they could figure out re-filling the pantry tomorrow because the sun was already going down. In the meantime, he offered Dilly what was left in his bag to see what he could throw together. He seemed thrilled at the challenge.

Harry sighed again, closing his eyes and enjoying just resting for a bit after such an eventful day - before jolting upright as a thought occurred to him.

_Where’s Hedwig?_


	14. Chapter 14

Hedwig was not happy with Harry. She had appeared on a small perch in the dining room the next morning but was ignoring Harry in favor of staring at the wall.

“I’m really sorry, Hedwig. I didn’t mean to leave you behind. It was an accident, I promise!” Harry continued to cajole her and offer torn up pieces of turkey. It wasn’t bacon, but he knew she liked sandwich meats too.

The sullen silence continued though, and Harry eventually had to go back to his own breakfast. Last night he had panicked quite a bit about leaving Hedwig behind but finally calmed when he remembered he was going back to Gringotts today. She would be fine for a day, right?

She probably would have been fine but was apparently smart enough to follow him all the way to the manor sometime during the night. She also apparently already had the elves wrapped around her proverbial finger as they had set up a beautiful perch in the dining room with attached silver water bowl. She was the definition of owl poise and dignity. Until Harry came in and she promptly gave him the cold shoulder.

Harry sighed, looking at her as he finished the last of his small mish-mash of a breakfast. He didn’t really care, food was food but Dilly had been ecstatic Harry had lunch meats in his bag and thought it was a great idea to fry them up like bacon with a side of green beans and tomatoes from the garden. Odd, but healthy at least.

Harry was just preparing to get up when another owl flew in through the window to land on the table. Hedwig hooted indignantly, apparently not in the mood for strangers on her turf. Harry simply shook his head at her and removed the owl’s letter. It promptly flew back out the window.

Deciding he might as well be near parchment and ink if a reply was needed, Harry headed to the Master Study down the hall. It was big and fancy but still homey and he could imagine himself spending a lot of time there. When he finally sat at the desk, his desk now, and cracked open the letter, he froze upon checking the signature at the bottom of the page: Padfoot.

Sirius had written him and he had no idea if he should be happy or nervous. There was simply too much he didn’t know and couldn’t trust.

**Dear Harry,**

**I hope you’re enjoying your summer. Dumbledore assures me you’re safe where you are so that’s good at least. I wish I could see you. Did you like the little birthday cake I sent? We barely had any time together at the end of the school year and I’ve been warned that I need to lay low for awhile after that mess at Hogwarts. I’ve got Moony with me though. We’re staying in a small muggle apartment for now. Can’t send dementors into muggle London after all and eventually they’ll have to give up the search.**

**There’s so much I want to tell you. Stories about James’ pranks and Lily’s brilliance. But again, Dumbledore warned me that you needed your summer breaks away from the wizarding world. Which I could understand, if I hadn’t seen you in the Leaky yesterday. You saw us, or maybe just Moony and Arthur, and ran away. What is going on young man? Are you in some sort of trouble? I’ll support you in anything, I hope you know that. I’m your godfather. Please, I’m worried here and given how you reacted to seeing us, I’m not even sure if I should tell Moony.**

**Please tell me you’re ok and let me know if you need anything. Anything at all.**

**Love,**

**Padfoot**

Harry sighed, put the letter down and stood to look out the window behind his desk. The view of the forest and even the twisting, overgrown garden was calming.

_I don’t know if I can trust him. I need him to repeat all of that to my face._

He knew what that meant, and leant heavily on the windowsill as he turned to glare at his own parchment. He’d have to arrange a meeting.

It would need to be somewhere private though since he didn’t know any privacy charms. Maybe he could rent a room at the Leaky Cauldron? That might work.

Settling down to write, Harry crafted a short message reassuring Sirius that he was fine and that he wanted to meet privately at the Leaky that evening around 5 (since he really had no idea how long the meeting with his solicitor might be). Hopefully, Sirius would be able to come.

Now it was just a matter of convincing Hedwig to send his letter.

~~~

Flooing to Gringotts was easy and thankfully the manor had some floo powder left above the mantel in the front parlor. Lee assured him that floo powder did not go bad and should work fine even after almost 20 years. When Harry stumbled into Gringotts’ waiting room, he was shocked to come face to face with Draco Malfoy and Malfoy Sr., or Lord Malfoy if he was being polite, which he guessed he probably should be as an heir himself.

So, Harry nodded his head in greeting to the sour-faced man and identical son, “Good afternoon, Lord Malfoy, Heir Draco.”

_Was that right? Or is it supposed to be Heir Malfoy?_

The two had almost identical looks of shock at his polite words, though Malfoy Sr. was able to recover quicker. Nodding back with a toneless, “Mr. Potter”, Draco jolted to awareness with his father’s voice. Hiding his reaction with a sneer, he repeated the greeting before the two took their turn at the floo and swirled away.

Harry shook his head at Draco’s antics. Somehow, compared with everything that he had discovered this summer, Draco’s animosity seemed almost childish. He really wished the git would stop picking fights and just grow up. At least Malfoy Sr. had a legitimate reason to dislike Harry with the whole Dobby fiasco. Draco’d had it out for him since that very first day on the train when Harry turned down his handshake.

_Now that’s something to think about. Rich pureblood families are all about manners. Did I really insult him that bad? I really need to read those Heir books, there’s probably something about manners in there. Doesn’t help that he’s a spoiled brat though._

Harry didn’t have to wait long before his guide arrived and he was led to Bloodclaw’s office once again.

Walking in, who he could only assume was his solicitor was already seated in front of Bloodclaw’s desk in a third chair. The woman stood as Harry arrived. She wore a masculine business suit with a bit of a wizarding flair in the coattails and sleeves but with very muggle black high heels. She had sable brown hair cut short and blunt with piercing blue eyes and seemed to be in her mid-forties, though that didn’t matter much with wizards who could still look 40 into their 80s.

Bloodclaw did introductions. “Welcome Harry, I hope you arrived at your destination safely, your exit yesterday had me a bit worried. This is Sarrah Dunn, she’s taken over your contract at Dunn & Dune Law after the late Alex Dunn, her father and who I knew in the 70s. Mrs. Dunn, this is Harry Potter, Heir of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Potter.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Heir Potter, or would you prefer Mr. Potter? I’ve just been briefed about your situation through Bloodclaw since I arrived a bit early.”

Harry shook the woman’s offered hand with a smile, she seemed confident and professional, hopefully both good things with a lawyer. “Its nice to meet you too, Mrs. Dunn. Harry is fine. I’m still getting used to the heir situation and Mr. Potter makes me feel like I’m in trouble at school.”

Mrs. Dunn laughed as they all sat. “Indeed, well, feel free to call me Sarrah then. When outside the courtroom, I prefer informality myself.”

“Now, before we start, Bloodclaw suggested and I agreed, to give you a magical vow swearing to protect your personal information. There is already a clause about such on our contract but I do not mind at all, repeating it. I know that you are dealing with some very sensitive issues and frankly, betrayals from some people close to you. I am supposed to be your legal defense and representative in all of that so trust between us is important.”

Harry was shocked at Sarrah’s bluntness. He wouldn’t say no to a promise though, he would be able to tell if she was being truthful.

Holding her wand aloft, “I, Sarrah Elizabeth Dunn, swear that I will not reveal or hint at Harry’s personal information or opinions to anyone except those who he allows or at court with his permission.”

She waited a moment, while Harry felt an odd spike in his magical core, before she silently cast a quick _Lumos_ and _Nox,_ brightening the tip of her wand and seemingly proving that her vow was true.

_Interesting, so that’s a magical vow. Charlus mentioned there was one in the book specific to keeping the family secret, I should check it out. It might be useful with Sirius._

With that, they got down to business. Mrs. Dunn was obviously knowledgeable about her field and was glad to receive Bloodclaw’s already prepared file on the account theft. She said she would go over it in its entirety that afternoon. She also agreed to Harry’s request about holding off on the guardianship issue but mentioned that Harry should visit a healer for a detailed health check. Both for the documentation since old injuries would show on his magical record and just in case he had some underlying issues.

Harry wasn’t too happy about seeing a healer since Madam Pomfrey was a menace but Mrs. Dunn gave him a business card of an associate of hers who she often consulted about medical issues that came up in her cases. Apparently, the Healer, Ms. Lane was a longtime friend and did home calls.

When they finally got around to the topic of the illegal marriage contract, Mrs. Dunn was obviously pissed. Her father had told her about a case with one such contract in the 50s, but the young woman had felt threatened enough to follow through before running to her family when her husband became abusive. Ultimately, they couldn’t do anything for her because even an illegal contract can be binding if you obey it. It was a horrible case for Mr. Dunn but he took it as a learning opportunity for his daughter.

“Alright, Harry. You have two options here. You can nullify the contract now or later when your case against Dumbledore goes to court. I would recommend waiting since the contract will qualify as evidence against him and its technically just a piece of paper until you turn 17 and are able to marry. Magically nullifying it will destroy all copies of the contract and so we would lose our evidence.”

Harry stared at the contract mulishly. He knew she was right, but it was the principle of the thing, it offended him just sitting there on the desk.

“The nullification itself is rather simple and you can do it without me here if you change your mind, though I would like to know since it affects your case.”

Harry sighed, resigned. “Alright, how do I do it just in case?”

Mrs. Dunn smiled her apology, “All you would need to do is state in the same way I did with the vow, that you, as the Heir of the Potter family and last remaining Potter, declare the contract illegal and invalid on the grounds of Albus Dumbledore not being your guardian and Arthur Weasley not signing as the Head of the Weasley family. This will cause a magical backlash on everyone who signed the contract and incur magical malaise in punishment.”

She must have noticed Harry’s blank look because she continued explaining. “Magical malaise is a lot like a muggle immune disease. They will be forever weakened magically, not significantly but enough to be noticeable and they will be more susceptible to magical sicknesses. There’s also a lot of social stigma around it because to have it means that the person did something dishonorable enough for their own magic to abandon them.”

Harry sat back thinking, “Huh, is that really what’s happening? Their magic would be siding with me?”

Sarah gave Harry a little smile, “Its debated, there are lots of books on it if you’re interested but I like to believe so.”


	15. Chapter 15

Harry slipped into the Leaky Cauldron at 4 pm. His meeting with Sarrah Dunn only took a few hours and they had made an appointment for her to floo to the manor in a few days on the 7th.

After leaving Gringotts, he had decided a cloak with a hood would be useful if he’s going to be having more clandestine meetings, but he ran into some trouble. Madam Malkin was a notorious gossip, so he couldn’t go to her and searching the alley for cloaks while hiding his face was easier said than done. Finally, he found some plain black cloaks in the same knick-knack shop he got the cap in, Helpful Havers.

_What’s with wizarding shops and alliterations?_

Noticing that Tom was rather busy, Harry took a chance and sidled up requesting a room for a few hours with his head down. The poor man was frazzled as it was and quickly snapped out “It’ll be 5 galleons to start and 3 every hour after that, paid at the end.”

Harry simply placed his coins on the counter and Tom slammed a key down next to them, all the while screaming at whoever was in the kitchen to hurry up with the fish ‘n chips.

Harry drifted off towards the stairs, looking at the key on his hand. It had a worn leather tag imprinted with the number 7.

Opening the door to room 7 on the second floor, Harry sighed at the dingy furniture. Felt kinda like he was back with the Dursleys but about the same as he remembered it last summer. Rickety bed, rickety table, single wood chair. Unlike last time, his room had a window over Diagon Alley and looking down he could see the people bustling about.

With about an hour left, assuming Sirius showed up at all, he set an alarm charm to warn him to go downstairs and opened Charlus’ guide. He at least wanted to check out that vow before Sirius arrived. Get some ideas.

~~~

When Harry walked downstairs at a few minutes to five, he didn’t even need to search out Sirius.

Sirius was sitting at a table in the corner of the room, bouncing his leg and waiting impatiently. He jumped up as soon as he spotted Harry, catching Harry’s attention, and Harry simply nodded his head towards upstairs. Waiting for Sirius on the landing, he swiftly led the man into the room and avoided a hug.

It would be too painful if Sirius were pretending like he thought Ron and Hermione probably were.

As Harry closed the door, Sirius’ patience broke and he burst with questions.

“Are you really alright, pup? What’s going on? Why all the secrecy? Are you okay? Do we need to hide any bodies?” He laughed nervously at his own joke.

“First, Sirius, do you have a wand?”

_Yeah, that’s kind of important for the rest of my plans..._

Sirius just looked confused. “I do, Dumbledore got me a spare he had lying around. Doesn’t work quite as well as the old one, but its okay.”

“Good. Could you please put up some privacy charms before we begin?”

Sirius got a serious look on his face but took out his wand and did some swishing and mumbling. Harry didn’t know what a privacy charm looked like but he felt something magical surround them.

“That’s a privacy charm?”

Sirius looked more confused. “Yes.”

_Good, no ringing._

“Alright, thank you for coming and its good to see you Sirius. You might want to sit for this conversation” Harry smiled gently as he sat on the chair.

Still looking concerned and confused, Sirius sat on the bed. “I don’t have a lot of patience, pup. What is going on? Dumbledore thinks you’re with your relatives in the muggle world.”

_Good that means he hasn’t figured out I left yet. Or he hasn’t told Sirius…_

“You received some money from Dumbledore, right?”

Sirius looked taken aback by the direction of the conversation.

“Ah, yeah. I’ve been too scared to touch anything from my family since I don’t know who might be watching the accounts but Dumbledore transferred me a bit, just to make ends meet y’know? He’s helped out Moony lots of times the same way.”

_How do I ask without tipping my hand?_

“Do you-Where do you think Dumbledore got that money from?”

Sirius tilted his head, looking at Harry like he was very odd but Sirius would play along anyway. “I imagine he got the money the same way we all do. Work. I’m not sure how much being Hogwarts’ Headmaster pays but he seems decently well off. He might also have some investments, I don’t know.”

Harry stared at Sirius intently, waiting and listening.

_Nothing. He really doesn’t know._

Harry dropped his head in his hands in relief. Sirius seemed truly ignorant. More than likely Sirius was ignorant of the rest but he’d still have to be careful until he knew he could trust Sirius. He had realized while waiting for 5 o’clock that even just asking for a vow might reveal too much and Sirius might not agree to a clause about keeping the vow itself secret until after revealing everything.

He’d just have to be direct about this and then ease his way into the other stuff.

Harry’s head popped up and Sirius gave him another odd look.

“Sirius, Dumbledore did not make that money himself. He stole it. From the Potter family accounts. He’s stolen 200,000 galleons over the past 4 years.”

“WHAT?” Sirius jumped up, “Are you sure? How? Why?”

Harry laughed sadly, “I don’t really know why but yes, I’ve had the goblins track everything and I’m taking him to court. He apparently had my family vault key and forged my signature in a note giving permission. Thankfully, he didn’t forge it right so it’s easy to prove I didn’t write the notes.”

Sirius started pacing frantically in the tiny room. “How could he do this? Why would he do this?” He looked over at Harry thoughtfully, “There’s more isn’t there? You wouldn’t have run from Moony and Arthur if this was it. You didn’t see me yesterday.”

Smiling sadly, Harry was happy that Sirius seemed to really be on his side but the man was surprisingly observant.

“Yeah, Padfoot, there’s more. For one, he’s giving money to a lot more people than just you but what has Dumbledore told you about where I live?”

“Just what I said in the letter, that you’re with your relatives, you’re somewhere safe, you need to stay away from the wizarding world during your break. I’ve tried to ask him more but he’s tight lipped, says its for your safety. But I want to meet them, pup. I don’t care what Dumbledore is saying. I was supposed to look after you growing up, I need to make sure these people are good people.”

“Did you ever think about _who_ might be relatives of mine in the muggle world?”

Sirius paused in his pacing. “I don’t know, James was different but the Potters are still an old family and all the old families intermarry. Heck, we’re related too if you look back far enough. Or not so far, I think James had an Uncle who married a Black… There’s probably tons of squib lines I don’t know about.”

Harry was shaking his head. Looking at Sirius sadly. He knew Sirius probably knew about Aunt Petunia but she wasn’t even considered in his ramblings.

“No, Dumbledore placed me with my Aunt Petunia. Lily’s sister.”

Sirius’ eyes practically bulged, “He what? That horse-faced bitch?”

“According to my Aunt and Uncle’s screaming over the years, Dumbledore left me on their doorstep in a basket sometime in the night on November 1st, 1981 with a letter telling them to take care of me.”

Sirius flinched when he mentioned screaming. “How bad is it, pup? Be honest. Petunia was a jealous teen who was turning into a bitter and mean woman the last I knew her.”

Harry sighed, he was happy they were having such an honest conversation, no vow necessary, but it was hard to talk about this stuff.

“It was bad, lets leave it at that. I’ve left now and am living… somewhere else. The goblins and I are pretty sure Dumbledore blocked the notices for my parents’ will like he’s been blocking my mail, which is still in effect by the way, but we can’t prove anything. None of the recipients or their representatives came except him and the will listed possible guardians including someone who was and still is a possibility. But in any case, due to Dumbledore’s interfering after mom and dad’s death, I don’t technically have an assigned guardian, magical or muggle, and I’d like it to stay like that for as long as possible. I don’t know who to trust and I’ve been taking care of myself forever anyway. Plus now I’ve got Tilly, Dilly and Lee… and you.”

Sirius snorted. “Those sound like house elf names.”

“They’re the last of the Potter elves.”

Sirius’ eyed widened again. “Wow, I’m surprised they’re still around. I never really thought about them after Fleamont’s death.”

“Yeah, a lot of them died from being cut off from the family magic after dad’s death but some survived.”

“Cut off? Why would they be cut off? Their bonds should have transferred to you, even if you were far away.”

Harry nodded absently, “Lee was talking about that. I’m wondering if Dumbledore did something there too. He probably wouldn’t want the elves popping up in Surrey looking for me if he wanted me to stay with my Aunt.”

“I don’t know if that’s possible but what now? I assume you’re on some Potter property if you found the elves but Dumbledore is going to notice you’re missing soon and with all this shit he’s done, I’m worried. What if he tries to make himself your guardian?”

Harry snorted. “That wasn’t even the worst in my opinion. No, that would be what he tried doing yesterday and don’t worry I’m working with my solicitor to prepare in case of a custody battle.”

He went on to explain the marriage contract and how it couldn’t be nullified yet. Sirius was furious, gone back to pacing and clenching his fists but he agreed that it was a good sign that Mrs. Weasley signed without Mr. Weasley. Sirius insisted that Arthur was a good man and would never allow such a thing, even if his daughter was the one ending up with the power.

Eventually, Sirius convinced Harry to bring him to Potter Manor to meet Tilly, Dilly and Lee and prove he really was alright alone. At least for now. Although Harry had to go call for Lee to add Sirius to the Access Book before they paid for the room and Sirius apparated them back. Sirius was super excited that he was staying at the Potter Manor since this was where James grew up and where Sirius stayed when the Potters took him in. He had lots of stories for Harry while they wandered the rooms and eventually got roped into dinner.

Dilly had apparently gone shopping during the day (Lee now had renewed access to the Potter Accounts) and insisted on feeding Harry and Sirius. Afterwards, the two retired to the Master Study where Harry continued his explanations and convinced Sirius to take a secrecy vow. Not because he didn’t trust him, but as he’d learned from Charlus’ guide, the vow could also protect Sirius from revealing anything through legilimency (which Sirius insisted he had occlumency training against) and veritaserum (which Sirius admitted was probably helpful). Magical vows were serious business because of how powerful and dangerous they were. Sirius warned Harry to be careful in his wording if he ever had to make a vow himself. Exceptions and loopholes could cost somebody their magic.

Finally, Sirius left late that evening after convincing Harry, in turn, to do this all over again the next day with Remus. Sirius trusted Moony and swore that he wasn’t aware of Dumbledore’s theft and meddling. So, they arranged to meet at the Leaky again the next day, at noon this time.


	16. Chapter 16

The next day’s meeting with Remus went about as well as Sirius’ had. Remus was shocked, angry and guilty, his eyes glowing amber from the wolf. He felt horrible that he had essentially been stealing from Harry for years and was happy to give it all back. He was also pissed at Dumbledore for hiding the will from him and promised to go to the Goblins as soon as possible to sort things out. Remus also promised to keep an eye on Dumbledore, siding with Sirius in his concerns about what Dumbledore might do when he figured out what was happening.

Throughout the long conversation though, Harry couldn’t be happier. It had been a little awkward again, phrasing questions in such a way so he could get direct answers, but he was satisfied that he could trust both Remus and Sirius like he had hoped. Charlus was righter than he realized. It wasn’t just the hearing lies that hurt, it was constantly wondering who he could trust.

Eventually they moved over to the Manor again and Remus was just as excited to see the old place. He’d visited multiple times when they were younger and he was especially sad to see the extravagant gardens in such disrepair. They were Euphemia’s pride and joy.

Remus also convinced Harry to get started on a letter to Ms. Lane to get a health check. Harry had gone into a bit more detail about his treatment at the Dursleys with both Sirius and Remus egging him on. Now the two were fretting over him like old women and Remus seemed to come to some sort of agreement with Dilly to make sure Harry was eating enough, complaining all the way about how Harry was too small for his age. Harry doubted Dilly knew what an average 14 year old should look like but he nodded along anyway.

The two stayed for dinner and the elves joined them to Sirius’ confusion. It didn’t take long for him to bond with Tilly though, and Harry began to worry if he should expect another prankster in the house.

When it was getting late enough for everyone to leave, he could tell that Sirius and Remus were both reluctant so he offered them some of the guest rooms. Though the three ended up staying up late in Sirius’ room talking about the Marauders and how James proposed to Lily, stammering and making a fool of himself the whole time.

After a happy and lively breakfast the next morning, Remus went to work at his temp job at some apothecary and Sirius went to the bank since they’d sent him a notice like Harry’s. Harry didn’t say anything about what it might be, simply smiled and reminded Sirius to mind his manners; you wanted the goblins on your side. 

Both Remus and Sirius informed Harry they would be back the next day since Dumbledore had arranged a meeting that afternoon with ‘some like-minded people’ and they would re-hash it together.

Harry then sent a letter off to Ms. Lane asking about her services and requesting she send a letter through Gringotts. Bloodclaw could send him letters but they still weren’t sure how or what kind of ward Dumbledore was using to redirect his mail.

Carefully attaching his letter, he pet Hedwig a bit before she flew off. He wasn’t quite sure if it was his groveling or his bacon that had won her over but she was in a better mood that day.

~~~

Harry wanted to bang his head against the wall. Repeatedly. Who the hell invented occlumency?

He had finished his homework and decided to go through the Heir’s chest before lunch. He was right in that there were a variety of materials ranging from skill books on occlumency to wizarding culture books and magical philosophy. He chose to start with the beginner’s occlumency guide since it was the most useful right now and Charlus recommended it.

_But what is this shit? Meditation and mind palaces. I need a beginner’s guide to the beginner’s guide. What does clearing the mind even mean? How am I supposed to visualize my mind? I need examples, dammit!_

Frustrated and feeling the beginnings of a headache, Harry headed to the manor library. The guide had insinuated that he should have known how to do some of these things like meditation already, so as much as he hated to admit it, he needed the children’s section. Clearly heirs were taught a lot of extra stuff when they were young and Harry was sorely behind.

The children’s section of the library turned out to be small but surprisingly interesting.

‘1001 magical creatures’

‘The Tales of Beetle the Bard’

‘What is the Ministry?’

‘Tools for the Young Heir’

‘Wizarding Society’

He sighed, even just based on the titles he knew he was behind and decided to settle in to find what he needed before dinner.

Hours later, Harry eventually found what he was looking for in ‘Meditations for the Mighty’ which seemed to be targeted towards really young children but went into very easy to understand explanations about what meditation was, why people do it and how it can help the young witch or wizard. From there he was better able to understand the chapter on occlumency and legilimency in ‘Tools for the Young Heir’ and he felt prepared to start again.

It was going to be a long process because what he imagined as a skill that he could turn on and off like a _lumos_ , was in fact a natural defense in witches and wizards that he had to exercise and work like a muscle. When he was more advanced, he would be able to actually feel when someone was trying to access his mind and kick them out easily as well as build visualized defenses like a brick wall, fog or a maze for intruders to struggle through. It was a sign of a master occlumense to be able to feed the invader misinformation and fake memories, allowing them to think they were successful.

Harry’s first meditation practice that night was boring but satisfying because after struggling with this one thing all day, he finally felt like he was making progress.

~~~

The next morning, his fourth morning since arriving at the manor was a bit lonely and he was ridiculously happy to receive a letter until he realized it was a response from Healer Lane through Gringotts.

**Dear Heir Potter,**

**I was informed you may be contacting me through our mutual friend, Mrs. Sarrah Dunn. I have attached a copy of the contract she had me sign for your privacy and in case my appearance in court is needed later. Based off your letter, I would recommend we do a full medical history scan which involves a potion and ritual, this will give us the most comprehensive information. The soonest everything can be prepared is the 9 th, so how about we plan for a morning appointment then.**

**Please send me your thoughts and floo address if the appointment is agreeable.**

**Sincerely,**

**Abby Lane**

**Private Healer, Certified by the MMHA**

The appointment worked for him, so Harry promptly sent off a response.

~~~

Later that evening and after a long day of reviewing the children’s books (Harry felt it was probably a good idea to skim these before starting his Heir’s texts in case he’s missing other important basics), Remus and Sirius joined Harry for dinner.

They were happy to inform Harry that Dumbledore hadn’t mentioned anything major in the meeting and seemed to still think Harry was at his relatives’. It was mostly the old Order members piled into Dumbledore’s office plus a young Auror Trainee, Nymphadora Tonks and Arthur Weasley’s oldest son, Bill, who was on vacation but normally worked in Egypt. Though Dumbledore never mentioned Voldemort, he was encouraging everyone to report any strange activities and keep an eye on suspected Death Eaters. A kind of ‘stay-on-your-toes’ reminder. Why? They weren’t really sure but Dumbles had insinuated before that You-Know-Who wasn’t fully dead.

Harry at least agreed on that point and went through the effort of explaining what happened in his first year and the shit-show that was his second. Sirius and Remus were rather grey with the realization that Voldemort’s spirit, at least, was still around somewhere, possibly possessing people.

Harry also noticed through their talk that a good number of these old Order members and Ms. Tonks were on the list of thieves/people Dumbledore is paying for some reason. More than likely he was supporting some members like Sirius and Remus but Harry couldn’t help wondering about bribes as well.

Both Sirius and Remus had chances to go to the bank by this point and Sirius was ecstatic to state that he was the new Lord Black. He wasn’t sure if going to Azkaban had made him unsuitable to inherit but apparently, he was fine and his Account Manager had been informed of his lack of a trial and was getting in contact with a lawyer as they speak. Harry smiled and exclaimed at this, but happily let his part in the discovery slide, simply stating his willingness to testify if need be. Sirius wasn’t too happy with the other responsibilities that came of being Lord Black however. Apparently, a lot of their businesses needed auditing and almost all of their properties were in disrepair. He was especially unhappy with having to visit his childhood home in London since there were some important documents left in the office there and it was one of the properties in need of help.

Remus on the other hand, was shocked by what James had left him in the will and jokingly smacked Harry upside the head for not warning him. Harry, though, took this opportunity to offer something he had been wondering about since he realized he could trust both of them.

“You know Remus, you should spend the rest of the summer cleaning it up and just rent it out, maybe name it something besides Potter Cottage. I’ve been thinking about this a couple days but how would the two of you like to live here? Sirius, the wards completely hide you from detection, you’ve already got rooms set aside, you guys can save on rent and… and you can live with me. And Tilly, Dilly and Lee. It’s a big house, we’d welcome the company.”

Sirius looked like Christmas and his birthday had all come at once, promptly jumping over to Harry and covering him in a bear hug but Remus took some convincing. Finally, it came down to asking him if he really wanted to leave Harry alone with Sirius and three elves. A bit of a low blow, especially since Harry knew he would be fine, but Remus was nothing if not a mother hen at heart.

That evening, the three spent an exorbitant amount of time in the kitchen talking about moving Remus in and what they wanted to do for the house like gardening ideas and going through the attic. All while eating disgusting amounts of mint chocolate pudding.

Dilly had been extra excited to try out some new dessert ideas as he’d picked up a cookbook at the grocer and swore that he’d be trying out every one.


	17. Chapter 17

Albus Dumbledore was not having a good morning.

It had been a productive summer so far. Half the Order was in his debt thanks to Harry, the Order was as ready as he could get them without Tom actually coming back, he’d been able to bribe his educational by-law through at the Summer Wizengamot session so he could filter the Hogwarts library a bit more, Sirius was eating out of his hand in gratitude, the contract with Molly’s daughter was filed easily and the bank finally stopped sending those irritating letters. He had been all ready to take a few weeks off before the brats came back to the school and then this happened.

The Potter brat was missing.

Admittedly, it’d been about a week since he last checked his tracking instruments but the bells would have gone off if another magical signature ventured on the premises. So where was Harry? How could he have just run off again? Albus thought he’d gotten it into the stupid child’s head last summer that such foolish actions were dangerous.

The new accidental magic ward should have stopped anything like last summer from repeating. How long had he been gone this time? All he could tell was that the brat had been gone at least a few days, long enough for his magical signature to fade, which should only happen when he leaves for Hogwarts.

Albus rushed over to those odious relatives of Harry’s as soon as he noticed and a quick legilimense on the Uncle told him they hadn’t seen the boy in days. He’d simply disappeared overnight after acting normal all summer.

Thankfully, they were still following what he’d suggested in the letters and last visit, though he knew as much from Arabella. Roughing the boy up a bit kept his confidence down and the boy would be more pliable to his guidance.

But maybe it was too much? There’s a fine line between the struggling he’d wanted and abuse. It wouldn’t do for the boy to be running off all the time. He’d already had to interfere with nosy muggle teachers and social workers over the years and Madam Pomfrey was on the verge of one obliviate too many.

Albus hoped the stupid boy had reached out to his friends for help. He didn’t have any money and Albus couldn’t see innocent, naive Harry living on the muggle streets – much too violent. No, he would try and contact someone.

He’d head to the Burrow then, check in with the little idiots, maybe ask Molly if she’d noticed anything. His contacts in Diagon would let him know if the boy was spotted. It might be worth looking into Sirius as well, he _was_ the boy’s godfather after all, a logical place for lost little Harry to run off to.

~~~

Waking up on August 8th, Harry was beaming all the way to the breakfast table. He still couldn’t believe how everything was falling into place. Sure, he couldn’t trust his friends and he was worried about going back to school while filing a lawsuit against the Headmaster but he had a house, he had his own money, he was learning skills that would benefit him for the rest of his life in the wizarding world and he had a semblance of family.

Said family was already at breakfast.

“What’s got you so happy, Harry?” Remus put down his newspaper, smiling in greeting.

Sirius grunted a good morning from across the table and went back to nursing his coffee.

“I’m just so happy you guys are here.” He replied as he sat next to Sirius.

Remus looked a little surprised before smiling warmly, “And we’re happy to be here too.”

“Uh-huh.” Sirius nodded vaguely and gave Harry a side-hug. Harry just laughed at his antics. At any other time of day, even late at night, Sirius had non-stop energy. But the mornings were horrible until he finished his coffee.

Thankfully, Remus was off for the day and after breakfast the three wandered over to the parlor to wait for Mrs. Dunn, Sarrah, Harry’s solicitor. They had a short meeting planned for the morning.

Harry was impressed with Sirius’ professionalism when Sarrah arrived, all that pureblood training in action, but she warmed the two adults up quickly with her assurances that she would do everything in her power to support Harry.

Sitting in the Master Study with tea and some fresh scones, they got down to business.

“Now, Harry. I’ve gone through your files and you definitely have a strong case against Dumbledore. The charges so far cover theft of your accounts, abuse of authority in hiding your civilian file, attempted line theft with the contract which you could also bring against Molly Weasley, perhaps Ginevra if she was aware, kidnapping when you were a baby and neglect of a magical child by placing you with your muggle relatives. We might also be able to add endangerment if we can prove that he was aware of how they were treating you.”

Sirius and Remus had gotten very still while Sarrah was speaking but Harry nodded. “I have an appointment with Healer Lane in a couple days and I suspect my babysitter and neighbor, Arabella Figg has been reporting to Dumbledore since she was getting paid by him with my money. She definitely saw enough over the years to testify. I also own her house now, so you could probably convince her with that. I wouldn’t want to really kick her out, but she doesn’t need to know that.”

Sirius had a dark smirk on his face while Remus chuckled a bit.

Sarrah continued while taking notes. “Alright. On that note, we may need to make an appointment to have some of your memories copied as evidence as well. Though it can wait until we get the report from Healer Lane.”

“That’s possible?”

Remus chuckled again and answered in place of Sarrah. “Yes, Harry. Witches and Wizards are able to not only remove and copy memories for viewing later in something called a pensieve, but a skilled wizard can tamper with those memories. That’s why for evidence during trials they need to be removed by a professional and certified as original.”

“Exactly, Remus. There are special mind healers who deal with memories who we can hire for the service and certification. I will arrange it when necessary. On another note, you might also want to try adding mail theft to the list of charges. It has a smaller fine but if we can examine the wards around your relatives’ house, would be easy to prove.”

Remus turned to Sarrah again, “Yes, we were speaking about those wards earlier. Apparently, the Potter elves were cut off from Harry’s magic after his parents’ death and we want to hire some ward breakers to examine the whole set-up.”

“Interesting. I can do that for you as well. Gringotts offers a ward analysis service that I’ve used before. Though, Harry, the only possible way to hold Mr. Dumbledore accountable for what happened to the elves would be destruction of property.”

Harry grimaced and Sarrah looked at him apologetically. “I can see that you treat your elves kindly and with a decent amount of respect but according to the law, they are your property.”

Harry nodded. He knew that; he just didn’t have to like it. All the creature laws were ridiculous in his opinion.

“Do they also offer ward destruction?” Sirius had a thoughtful look on his face while asking.

“Yes, would you all be interested in that as well?”

Sirius looked over at Harry before continuing. “I think it would be a good idea, pup. We’re gonna fight Dumbledore tooth and nail but just in case, if the wards are gone, it’s just another house and he’ll have less of an excuse to try and send you back.”

“Thank you, Sirius, that’s a good idea. Yeah, let’s have the wards torn down after the analysis – and we shouldn’t have any trouble there as well since I also now own their house. Feel free to make the threat a little more clear otherwise my relatives might kick up a fuss with strangers, especially ‘freaks’, around the house.” He looked back at Sarrah towards the end, his eyes telling her everything she needed to know about what kinds of people they were.

“Alright Harry, I’ll make a note of it. Now, given the high profile of Mr. Dumbledore and his position of Chief Warlock, I will be preparing your case as quietly as possible which means it might take a month or two to get everything in order, properly supported with evidence and filed, maybe longer if we discover more in the meantime. When we’re ready to move forward, I recommend we talk to Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She is known for her objectivity and sense of justice, plus I’ve gotten the impression over the years that she doesn’t like how Dumbledore does things so she would be the most willing to work with us quietly until the time of the trial. We will also need her specific help to approach the Wizengamot directly with your criminal case.”

“Why is that?” Harry asked.

“Usually cases are filed by solicitors, processed by the Minister’s office and sent to the Chief Warlock for review before facing a jury of 10 Wizengamot members. However, not only do I not trust Dumbledore to let our case go through but any cases against Wizengamot members or their families need to face the full Wizengamot, which only happens once a quarter or needs to be called by one of the high ranking members like the Minister, Chief Warlock or Head of the DMLE.”

“I used to know Amelia when I was an Auror,” Sirius stepped in. “She’s a good sort, tough as nails. Should have a niece at Hogwarts right now and definitely won’t put up with any of Dumbledore’s shit. I knew her when she was just starting to work her way up in the DMLE and it was like her personal mission was to clean office of all the corrupt officers.”

“Alright,” Harry agreed, “You probably need permission to talk to her about my position, right? Because of the vow?”

Sarrah gave him a crooked smile, “Yes, your implied consent would have been enough because it is to benefit your court case but I am glad you are keeping my vow in mind. Though back on the topic of your contract, I have a few questions. The first is would you like to press charges against Molly Weasley and potentially Ginevra Weasley? Or even your relatives?”

Harry tilted his head back thinking while Sirius and Remus remained quiet. They were proud of how well Harry was handling everything and wanted the decision to be all his.

“Given the fact that Mrs. Weasley also received money from Dumbledore, then giving it to Ginny and Ron, yes, I want to press charges. I want to know how much of their intentions were malicious. For all we know, Mrs. Weasley thinks Dumbledore is my legal guardian, so the contract isn’t all that illegal. Though I would also like to know why she alone signed and not Mr. Weasley.” Harry sighed, there was so much he didn’t know. “As for the Dursleys, I’d really rather leave them out of it. I’m hoping that last week was the last time I ever had to see them. I’m tempted to simply give them the house back, that’s how much I really just want to cut all ties but I know we should keep it for now in case they get involved. It would be a separate case anyway, right? So I can decide later, it doesn’t have to be on the same secret timetable as Dumbles’ trial.”

“Noted and yes, my contract is for the Potter family, so if you want to deal with the Dursleys next year or when you come of legal age, that’s fine. My second question is less of a question and more a suggestion. I think it would be a good idea to announce during your case, your intention to nullify the marriage contract irrespective of the verdict. This will keep nullification from being listed as a possible punishment. Otherwise, depending on the strength of his defense and the jury’s opinion, they could simply request you nullify the contract and call that part dealt with.”

Sirius had a rather evil look on his face and even Remus’ eyes were glowing. They were clearly upset about Dumbledore’s attempt at enslaving Harry and were excited at the prospect of enacting as much revenge as possible. Harry agreed and gave Sarrah a firm nod, “Agreed.”

“Alright then, Harry. No doubt, there will be other issues I need to consult you with, how would you like me to reach you then? We have the matter of the mail ward to deal with and I understand you’re heading back to Hogwarts in a few weeks.”

“We talked about that earlier.” Harry looked over to see Sirius and Remus nod, “I would like you to work with Sirius and Remus as much as possible on this. I don’t think my mail would be interfered with again once the mail ward is taken care of but just in case, Dumbledore will not suspect frequent communications with Sirius as he is my godfather. We can communicate through them and if something is truly urgent, private house elves are allowed in Hogwarts in an emergency and one of ours can send me a message.”

Sarrah grinned at that. “Wonderful, Harry. I look forward to working with you three in the future.”


	18. Chapter 18

After Sarrah left, Sirius and Remus spent the day sprucing up their rooms and moving some of Remus’ things from their apartment to the manor.

When they had finally finished, they found Harry in the library surrounded by books and taking notes. Sirius pretended a heart attack at the travesty and promptly dragged Harry and Remus outside to explore the grounds. Harry got the grand tour and was impressed with the extent of the Potter gardens. The flower sections were still a scraggly, overgrown mess but the vegetable gardens were decent (probably through Dilly’s hard work) and Harry was surprised to see a couple greenhouses and sectioned off areas in the large back lawn. Remus explained that although Euphemia loved her flowers, Fleamont was also an acclaimed Potioneer and grew a lot of his own ingredients. Harry nodded along, he remembered reading in Fleamont’s journal about his potion experiments and the famous Sleakeasy Hair Potion. It hadn’t occurred to him though that someone who loved potions so much probably grew his own ingredients. He wondered if Professor Snape had a garden of his own hidden away somewhere at Hogwarts.

Harry was also excited by the forest. Much less dangerous than the forbidden forest but apparently almost as large, the entire thing was part of the manor and covered by the wards. Inside were about a dozen walking paths zig-zagging for miles. Sirius admitted that he couldn’t remember much about which path was which but there were some awesome hiding spots in the forest, glades full of wildflowers and a stream where James taught him to fish somewhere inside. Harry decided that he would definitely be exploring in his free time this summer.

Along the back of the house was also a large stone porch with tables and chairs situated under a vine covered pergola and with a beautiful view of the garden. The trio decided to take an early dinner outside and Tilly joined them, apparently on break. Sirius looked a little shocked at that and exclaimed that he wasn’t aware elves took breaks. Tilly gave him the most judging look Harry could imagine an elf making and scribbled out on the notepad she carried that ‘Of course elves took breaks. Did he think they were enchanted brooms?’

Sirius looked sufficiently cowed, but Remus and Harry couldn’t help laughing at the exchange. Once Dilly and Tilly started opening up, they were surprisingly opinionated elves and not afraid of showing it. Probably due to them not being raised under a Master or Mistress and Harry loved them for it. In fact, he had a surprise in mind for all three that he needed to talk to Lee about.

The next morning, the trio of wizards trouped in for breakfast and froze upon entering the dining room. All three elves had decided to join them. Sirius and Remus were standing shocked, but Harry bustled through and was pleased to see how quickly Lee had taken up Harry’s idea.

“Lee, you and the twins look amazing in your uniforms. Very distinguished.” And they were. Harry had asked Lee if they would be happy having uniforms instead of the traditional pillowcases. Their pillowcases were clean and obviously pressed but Harry wondered if they wouldn’t be happier dressed to impress since they tended to take such pride in their work. Lee said he would talk to the twins about it.

Now the three were standing in a line as if for inspection, looking proud in their little black and white uniforms. Lee looked to be dressed as a butler, Dilly a cook and Tilly a maid. Harry was a little surprised to realize Tilly was a girl since she was identical to Dilly but she looked cute anyway, especially with the giant bow at her waist. All three also had the Potter crest embroidered on their sleeves which Harry took the time to compliment. Tilly practically beamed so he assumed it must have been her idea.

After snapping out of their shock, Sirius and Remus exclaimed over how wonderful the idea was and that the elves looked very nice.

Finally, after breakfast it was off to the parlor once again. They were expecting Healer Lane this time.

~~~

“Ok, I’m going to need exactly 10 drops of your blood in the bowl then we can start.”

Healer Lane was an interesting woman. Clearly the no-nonsense type, she reminded Harry of a younger Professor McGonagall. She had long blond hair in a straight braid down her back and wire-rimmed spectacles over brown eyes. Upon arriving and greeting everyone, she launched right into explaining the ritual, demanding Harry sit at his desk in front of a very long slightly green tinged parchment while she positioned the two grown men off to the side and out of her way. Harry was tempted to reply ‘Yes, ma’am’ every time she looked at him.

Apparently, the full medical history used special potion-soaked parchment to reveal his results as well as another potion literally seeking out his medical history through his blood, as well as her own chanting to direct the magic.

She handed him a small scalpel and looked pointedly at the dish with the potion.

Obviously, he was not moving fast enough for her tastes, so Harry sliced the tip of his finger and counted off 10 drops. Interestingly the blood on the blade sizzled out of existence. She waved her wand and silently healed his finger.

“Alright, I will now be applying the revealing potion while conducting the ritual. Do not interrupt me young man, or you two over there, until I am done. You may feel a slight tingling sensation as the magic of the ritual searches through your body for the physical remnants of any injuries, diseases, potions, etc. I will be quite tired afterward; it has been many years since I’ve had to do a full history scan and the magic is intense. Feel free to read the parchment while I rest, though I will need it back to determine how we move forward. Am I clear?”

Three ‘Yes, ma’am’s rang out and she began chanting while pouring out the potion onto the parchment.

At first Harry was focused on her voice and the words, they didn’t sound like Latin but he couldn’t be sure. The chant was rhythmic though and rather soothing. Then he started to feel the tingles up and down his legs, sometimes focusing on one area or another. It felt like a hive of bees was placed over his scar, the buzzing was so strong.

After about 15 minutes, the chanting stopped and Harry noticed Healer Lane was significantly paler than earlier. She waved tiredly at the parchment before stumbling over to a chair and sinking onto the cushions.

Harry was surprised to see that the puddle of potion had turned into words written in ink while he was distracted. In no time at all, Sirius and Remus were across the room and dragging the parchment in front of Harry to read over his shoulder.

**Harry James Potter**

**5’ 4” : 113 lbs**

**Green eyes, black hair, skin tone 3B**

**Core level 7**

**Born 11:59 July 31 st, 1980**

_Huh, interesting considering I usually stay up until that time on the 30 th_

**0-1 years old:**

**Magical Spanish Flu Vaccine**

**Dragon Pox I Vaccine**

**Grey Death Vaccine**

**Wasting Disease Vaccine**

**Ear infection – treated with potion**

**Dragon Pox II Vaccine**

**Bruise on forehead – treated**

**Scraped both knees – treated**

**1-2 years old:**

**Scraped both knees and hands – treated**

**Exposure to _Avada Kedavra_ – untreated, dark residue**

**Mild hypothermia – untreated**

**Bruising on both arms and legs* – untreated**

**Mild Starvation* – untreated**

**Mild dehydration* – untreated**

**2-3 years old:**

**Bruising on both arms and legs* – untreated**

**Mild starvation* – untreated**

**Mild dehydration* – untreated**

**Dislocated right shoulder – untreated**

**Sprained right wrist - untreated**

**Broken left forearm – untreated, misaligned**

**3-4 years old:**

**Broken right upper arm – untreated, misaligned**

**Bruising on abdomen, both arms and legs* – untreated**

**Mild starvation* – untreated, effected growth**

**Mild dehydration* – untreated**

**Dislocated right shoulder* – untreated, damaged tendon**

**Broken left femur – untreated, misaligned**

**Head trauma (severe) – untreated, damaged eyesight**

Harry skimmed through the next couple of years with the Dursleys, no need to read what he knew only got worse, until his eyes snagged on something interesting when he was eight.

**7-8 years old:**

**…**

**Submissive Potion directed to Vernon Dursley – broken 75%**

**Submissive Potion directed to Petunia Dursley – broken 75%**

**Submissive Potion directed to Dudley Dursley – broken 100%**

**Obliviate – effective**

He’d been dosed and obliviated. He could hear Remus growling over his shoulder as he read everything and Sirius had a rather painful grip on his shoulder. Harry wondered how they would react when they got to that part. Knowing there was nothing to do but keep reading, he did. Noticing more anomalies as he reached 11 and the years after.

**11-12 years old:**

**…**

**Compulsion to trust Albus Dumbledore – broken 100%**

**Compulsion to trust Ronald Weasley – broken 50%**

**Compulsion to trust Molly Weasley – broken 50%**

**Compulsion to trust Gryffindor House – broken 10%**

**Compulsion to distrust Slytherin House – broken 50%**

**Compulsion to distrust Severus Snape – broken 25%**

**Submissive Potion directed to Albus Dumbledore – broken 100%**

**Obliviate – effective**

**Compulsion to disregard academics – broken 95%**

**Compulsion to encourage rash behavior – broken 100%**

**Magical exhaustion – recovered fully**

Harry almost hesitated to continue reading at that point. He remembered the hat suggesting he should go into Slytherin but ‘everyone’ – really just Ron and Hagrid had suggested Slytherin was only for evil wizards and he believed them so easily. Then there were the behavior modifiers, at least they were mostly broken. He wondered also, if the magical exhaustion was from that end-of-year incident with the spirit of Voldemort…

**12-13 years old:**

**…**

**Compulsion to trust Hermione Granger – broken 50%**

**Broken right forearm – untreated**

**Removal of right forearm, wrist and hand bones – regrown with potion**

**Twisted left ankle – healed with Phoenix Tears**

**Bruising on ribs, left shoulder and both knees – healed with Phoenix Tears**

**Poisoned by Basilisk – healed with Phoenix Tears, 100% immunity to snake venom**

**Compulsion to distrust Parseltongue – broken 50%**

Thankfully, nothing major happened in his 13th year except some mild magical exhaustion towards the end. Probably from saving Sirius from the dementors – he had passed out after all. Looking at his 14th year, however, he felt a bit nauseous at the implications. The only strange things he’d eaten were his mini birthday cakes after all.

**14-15 years old:**

**Love potion directed to Ginevra Weasley – unactivated**

**(present)**


	19. Chapter 19

The only reason Harry wasn’t freaking out was because he knew he needed to keep a calm head. Sirius was swearing and pacing enough for all of them and Remus was standing in the corner growling and clenching his fists.

Harry nodded to Healer Lane as she stood up and examined the document.

“Alright, young man. Before we start taking this apart did you have any questions?”

“Um… yes, actually. I have a few.” She nodded for him to continue. “I sorta assumed that the listings were in order but what do the little marks mean next to some of them?”

“Ah, those indicate repeated events. The magic of the parchment combined with the ritual makes sense of the mess of information divulged by the potion. One-time events are given a bit more specificity. But in cases like yours where something like bruising occurred frequently, the listing becomes a bit more generalized and the asterisk indicates this. You’re also correct that the listings are in order of the first instance each year.”

Sirius heard that and stalked over to Harry dragging him into a tight hug. “You’re never going back, Harry. I don’t care what we have to do, we can run away to the continent if we need to, but you are never seeing those people again.”

Harry felt tears start to blur his eyes and looked up, attempting to hold them back. Remus had moved over at some point as well and joined in on the hug, whispering his own reassurances. “I’m so proud of you, cub. You stayed strong through all of that and still came out such a wonderful young man.”

Harry was really struggling now. He knew all this would probably come out and as much as he hated it, he also felt relieved at knowing Sirius and Remus both cared so much – they didn’t think less of him or pity him. He was quickly coming to love them both. They were his family, not the Dursleys.

When the trio finally separated, they noticed Healer Lane had pulled up a chair and was taking notes from the parchment. She looked up at their movement and smiled gently.

“I’m glad you have such good men by your side, Harry.”

Harry smiled back with a quiet ‘me too’.

She straightened fully and indicated Sirius and Remus to sit as well. “Alright, I am glad to see you at least had your magical vaccinations as a baby. I wasn’t sure you would as I am aware the Potters were in hiding. You are also surprisingly healthy for the abuse you’ve suffered-“ Harry flinched slightly at hearing that word. “-but you do have noticeably weak bones for your age and your growth has been affected. I see that your Uncle also began using a belt when you turned 6. There are potion salves that can help with the scar tissue but I can’t promise everything will disappear.”

Harry blinked a bit in shock. He wasn’t expecting to be _able_ to do anything for the scars on his back. They’d always been there.

“I will be prescribing two types of nutrient potions and a scar salve. Use the scar treatment once a night over any noticeable scars. You will likely need to continue the treatment for 4-6 months but eventually you will notice diminishing returns, at which point you may stop. Even potions have limits. As for the nutrient potions, one is to support your overall health and hopefully stimulate growth. The other is targeted towards bone health, both strengthening and straightening misaligned old breaks, of which you have several. Take both potions once a day and you’ll likely be taking them until November sometime, I will have to do a quick scan before I leave to decide on this as well as if we need to re-break any severe misalignments.”

Harry grimaced at the thought. Remus just chuckled nervously and patted his shoulder while Sirius winced.

“Your eyesight is also the result of injury and can likely be healed, my scan will determine how we proceed.”

Remus and Sirius looked at each other in surprise and Sirius turned to the healer. “James had glasses though…”

Healer Lane smiled slightly. “Yes, some witches and wizards need glasses due to natural issues. Their eyesight can be improved a bit with potions but if it was really bad, they will likely still need glasses. The same issue happens with the elderly. At some point before their death, almost everyone will likely need reading glasses at least. Eye damage due to injury is a bit hit and miss. Most of the time, it is easily healed. However, if the damage is severe enough such as causing blindness… again, even potions have limits.”

Harry grinned at that news. He hated having glasses. He was always so scared he would lose them at the worst moment.

“Now, about the compulsions and will altering potions…” Healer Lane became very serious all of a sudden. She looked like she was on the verge of a snarl but shoved the desire down and looked Harry in the eyes.

“I can help you with the compulsion charms today. You are lucky that before I was a private healer, I specialized in curse and charm damage at St. Mungo’s, otherwise you’d have to hire a specialist or go to St. Mungo’s which I assume you want to avoid for privacy reasons.” Sirius snorted but she talked right over him, “I can also brew you a detoxifying potion which will remove ALL potions and potion residues from your system as well as general toxins or poisons. I will get this to you in a couple days, take it as soon as you can while its fresh. I would also recommend not taking your other prescribed potions that day as they will be counteracted and wasted. Expect to throw up at least a few times and sweat a lot but the symptoms should abate in an hour or two. When you feel fine again, the potion will have done its work. Also, whoever this Ginevra Weasley is, avoid her at all costs until you’ve taken the detoxifying potion. Seeing her in person will activate the love potion and depending on the type of potion that was used, such as a slow acting variety, it could make removal much more difficult. As for the obliviates, you’re going to need to see a specialized mind healer who deals with memories and memory charms. Thankfully, Sarrah already reached out to me about recommending a mind healer who can certify memories. Usually the two fields overlap, and I will do my best to connect you with someone who can help with both matters.”

Harry sighed in relief, everything was fixable, even the obliviates. Thank God. “Do you mind me asking about the ‘broken’ tags? It kinda makes sense but how? And why in different amounts?”

Healer Lane brightened up a bit at that. “Well that’s all thanks to you. It is possible for a strong wizard with a strong will to break compulsions and will altering potions over time. According to this you have a core level of 7 which is already above average, not even considering your age or willpower. As a result, given enough incentive to question the magical directives, you can gradually break them. With less magic or willpower, the directives may make a wizard stubborn in their belief, overlooking evidence to the contrary and re-strengthening the compulsion itself.”

“I don’t feel particularly powerful… what does level 7 indicate? And what’s the average?”

She chuckled a bit and looked to the other adults in the room but they were just as curious. “Ahem, well. The levels are not exact as they are an older practice in magical medicine to generalize the size of a wizard or witch’s core. The ritual we used was invented a couple hundred years ago. The core dictates the power _potential_ of a wizard. As you’re still in school I would not expect you to have full control of your magic yet and so it might feel weaker than it is. With less control, you are wasteful when using magic and therefore tire more easily, seeming weaker. The scale is from 0 to 10, 0 representing muggles and 10 extremely powerful witches and wizards like the founders of Hogwarts. The average witch or wizard is a 5 but children and teens continue to grow their cores until they reach majority and the core goes through a magical growth spurt. Hence why our age of majority is 17 and has not changed in hundreds of years – unlike the muggles who can’t seem to stick to one. But again, keep in mind that the scale is extremely generalized. Magical control, practice and areas of talent can all play a role in a witch or wizard’s power. It was mainly invented for healers to get an idea of core sizes when dealing with the odd curse or two that affects the core. We’ve gone off topic, however. Harry, please stand so I can do the scan I mentioned.”

While Healer Lane was scanning Harry, Remus jumped in with a question of his own. “Should we be concerned with the ‘dark residue’ listed after Harry’s exposure to the killing curse?”

Healer Lane looked thoughtful for a moment. “I do not believe so. Its always a good idea to keep an eye on residual magics in the body but curse scars always have residual magic, it is what prevents them from fading like normal scars. I am also not surprised that our ritual labeled the residual magic as ‘dark’ given what it resulted from. There are no other known survivors of the killing curse so we cannot tell if this is a normal occurrence.”

She shrugged a bit before continuing, “Though like I say with anything unusual with one’s health, keep an eye on it and report to a healer if something strange happens.”

After they had wrapped up and Healer Lane removed Harry’s compulsions, deciding no re-breaks were needed, Remus received a copy of Harry’s prescriptions while he lay back on the sofa. Apparently, compulsions hurt more to remove the longer they were left in place and now he had a pounding headache.

While Remus was seeing the healer off and heading out to the apothecary he worked at, Sirius came back to sit with Harry and started chuckling, shaking his head.

Harry lifted the arm slung over his eyes to glare at his godfather, which just made Sirius laugh harder.

“Don’t look at me like that, pup, I’m just happy. It’s all so fucked up but we’re gonna make it better, together. And I’m not going anywhere this time.”

~~~

Meanwhile, at the apothecary.

“Remus, my boy! How have you been? Do you have a moment to chat?”


End file.
